For one beautiful week in December 2022, Carlos Correa was a member of the San Francisco Giants, and he was going to be in San Francisco for the next 13 years
. Then the Giants postponed his introductory news conference because of a bad physical, or cold feet, and the Carlos Correa SF Era was over.Now, the Carlos Correa Minnesota Era is over, 10 1⁄3 seasons before Correa’s Giants contract would have ended. The Minnesota Twins traded Correa back to the Astros for pitching prospect Matt Mikulski, and
will pay the Astros $33M to take on the remainder of the six-year, $200M deal he eventually signed before the 2023 season — about $103.4M. That’s seven fewer years and $150M less than Correa’s original agreement with the Giants. It’s six fewer years and $115M less than Correa’s deal with the New York Mets, which also got cancelled after a physical exam.
So, in hindsight, pretty good call by the Giants in backing out of the deal, though their pivot to a free agent class of Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger, Luke Jackson, Sean Manaea, and Ross Stripling was less than inspiring. The Twins were motivated to get out of the contract primarily because the Pohlad family put the team up for sale nine months ago and still hasn’t found a buyer, so they’re cutting payroll as much as possible.
Correa was pretty mediocre in 2023 with the Twins, rebounded to an awesome .310/.388/.517 slash line in 2024 but only played 86 games, then struggled to .267/.319/.386 in 2025. He’ll play third base for the Astros, alongside his successor at short, Jeremy Peña.
Instead of 10 1/3 more years of Carlos Correa for about $278M, the Giants have 6 2⁄3 more years of Willy Adames for roughly $173.3M. The math works.
In a week where so many longtime Giants changed teams, it’s important to acknowledge a player who may have only been a Giant for one unofficial week, but whose X-rays will live in our hearts forever. Godspeed, Carlos.
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