NEWSLETTER
The latest on the VERY HOT shortstop market, where the Chicago Cubs seem pretty aggressively determined to land at least one of the three remaining top names, if not two …
- Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma dug into the shortstop market as it relates to the Cubs, who are clearly very into Carlos Correa, and who did make an offer for Trea Turner before he signed with the Phillies:
- From various reports, you get the sense that the prime suitors for Correa at this point are the Twins (they “met on him” last night, maybe to start improving their offer), the Giants (presumably if they miss on Aaron Judge), the Dodgers (who almost certainly want to stay short-term, very high-AAV), and the Cubs.
- Here’s hoping Correa DOESN’T re-up with the Twins, and that Morosi is right:
- How Jon Heyman summed up where things stand with the Cubs: “The Cubs are looking at Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson, and folks believe they have a good chance to land one of the shortstops — although, as many as 11 teams are in contact with the four star shortstops.” Good chance to land one. … But also maybe not.
- Tom Verducci writes about the Trea Turner contract, saying that it doesn’t really change the calculus for other teams because of its unique structure, which was all about holding down the AAV.
- Verducci also sums up the market: “The Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers, Braves, Twins, Angels and, depending on the Aaron Judge decision, Giants and Yankees still are monitoring the shortstop market.”
- Dare I read something into a punch fist emoji:
- I do think, by the way, that Correa will “top” Turner’s deal, but I’m not sure it’ll come in the same form. That $27-ish million AAV is so low. Is an eight-year deal at a $35 million AAV better or worse than Turner’s, for example? It’s only $280 million guaranteed, so that part is less than Turner’s, but it would come to Correa in three fewer seasons. And what about deferrals or opt outs? I think doing an apples-to-apples comparison is going to take some time.
- We’re still finding things out about the Turner situation, for example:
- Again, we don’t know anything about the structure or deferrals – which can change the value considerably – and there is also the 10% income tax in California, which would’ve been a factor. But that’s a VERY serious offer, and it does make you wonder just how high things could go for Correa.
- Marino Pepén was the first to report the level of seriousness between the Cubs and Bogaerts, and he calls them the most serious threat to the Red Sox getting a re-signing done:
