{"id":109942,"date":"2025-08-01T09:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109942\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:54:12","slug":"astros-acquire-carlos-correa-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109942\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros Acquire Carlos Correa – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos<\/a> Correa<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> is coming home to play third base.\u00a0 The Twins have agreed to trade Correa to the Astros, according to MLB.com\u2019s Brian McTaggart<\/a>, and Jon Morosi of MLB Network<\/a> says he\u2019ll man the hot corner for Houston.\u00a0 Pitching prospect\u00a0Matt Mikulski<\/strong><\/a> is going to Minnesota, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic<\/a>.\u00a0 Bob Nightengale of USA Today<\/a> reports that the Twins are paying down $33MM of the approximate $103.4MM remaining on Correa\u2019s deal.\u00a0 The trade is now official.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The idea of the Astros bringing Correa back into the fold first surfaced yesterday in a report from Nightengale<\/a>.\u00a0 Rome and Dan Hayes of The Athletic<\/a> went on to report that the Astros approached the Twins with the concept of bringing back Correa, a favorite of owner Jim Crane.<\/p>\n

With $103.4MM remaining on Correa\u2019s contract through 2028, reporting today suggested that the two clubs were too far apart on dollars to consummate a deal.\u00a0 However, as ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan reports<\/a>, the teams bridged their financial gap, Correa waived his no-trade clause, and the deal was resuscitated.\u00a0 As Correa told McTaggart<\/a>, \u201cI let them know there was only one team I would allow that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Astros and Crane have a history of letting star players depart for longer free agent deals elsewhere.\u00a0 In this case, Correa left after the 2021 season.\u00a0 Nearly three years later third baseman Alex Bregman<\/a><\/strong> turned down the Astros\u2019 overtures and landed in Boston, after the club had already landed his replacement in Isaac Paredes<\/a><\/strong> (acquired from the Cubs in part because the Astros knew they couldn\u2019t win the bidding on Kyle Tucker<\/a><\/strong>).\u00a0 Paredes tore his hamstring on July 19th, which may be season-ending.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Pe\u00f1a<\/a><\/strong> has flourished in Correa\u2019s absence, making his first All-Star team this year after hitting the IL in late June for a fractured rib.\u00a0 Pe\u00f1a could rejoin the Astros tomorrow in Boston, playing next to his predecessor on the left side of the infield against Bregman and the Red Sox.\u00a0 The Astros had picked up<\/a> Ramon Urias<\/a><\/strong> from Baltimore last night, a move that paled in comparison to the division-rival Mariners adding Eugenio Suarez<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Now with Correa, Urias will be pushed into a utility role that could include time at second base.<\/p>\n

Correa, 31 in September, owns an uninspiring 97 wRC+ in 364 plate appearances this year for the Twins.\u00a0 His Twins career has been up-and-down in that regard, with a stellar 136 wRC+ in 2022, a down year in \u201923, and a career-best 155 mark last year.<\/p>\n

Correa played in only 86 games for the Twins in 2024, missing time due to an intercostal strain and plantar fasciitis.\u00a0 He spent time on the seven-day concussion list in May this year, but has otherwise avoided the IL despite some minor injuries.<\/p>\n

Injuries have long been part of the story for Correa, who was drafted first overall by the Astros in 2012.\u00a0 He played 110 or fewer games in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2024, so he had a four-year run of good health encompassing his multiple free agencies.<\/p>\n

Despite his injury history, Correa has been worth 3.7 WAR in seven separate seasons.\u00a0 He won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2015, made his first All-Star team and garnered MVP votes in 2017, made another All-Star team and finished fifth in the MVP voting in 2021, and made a third All-Star game with the Twins last year.\u00a0 Certainly Correa\u2019s 2017 performance and the Astros\u2019 championship are tarnished by the sign-stealing scandal, but the star players involved have largely been able to move on with minimal effects aside from perhaps extra boos from certain fanbases.<\/p>\n

Correa has been a regular on the pages of MLBTR, perhaps beginning with that sign-stealing scandal in late 2019.\u00a0 Though Correa suffered some reputational damage for cheating at the time, his first run at free agency seemed largely unaffected.\u00a0 Hewing to their organizational philosophy on long-term contracts, the Astros topped out at a five-year, $160MM offer, even though Correa was heading into his age-27 season.<\/p>\n

Though some major free agents such as Corey Seager<\/a><\/strong> signed before the 99-day 2021-22 lockout, Correa did not.\u00a0 Correa switched to the Boras Corporation during the lockout, and \u201csettled\u201d for a three-year, $105.3MM deal with the Twins in March 2022 with opt-out clauses after each season.\u00a0 After an excellent debut season with the Twins, Correa opted out as expected, but his second run at free agency was anything but easy.<\/p>\n

Correa agreed to a 13-year, $350MM deal with the Giants in December 2022, which shockingly fell apart after his physical revealed concerns over his right leg.\u00a0 Correa then agreed to play third base for the Mets on a 12-year, $315MM deal, only to have that deal fall apart for similar reasons.\u00a0 That led to a January 2023 reunion with the Twins on a six-year, $200MM deal, ending one of the wildest free agencies this website has ever seen.<\/p>\n

As Rome and Hayes wrote recently<\/a>, \u201cThough the Twins are enamored with Correa, believing he\u2019s a difference-maker on the field, the team\u2019s financial picture has changed drastically in the 30 months since he signed his six-year deal. The club has been up for sale since October, which is limiting how much the team can spend on players. Correa\u2019s salary represents 25 percent of the Twins\u2019 current $141 million payroll.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Correa will return to Houston and play a position other than shortstop for the first time in his 11-year MLB career.\u00a0 He told McTaggart<\/a>, \u201cWe were waiting for a shortstop to come in [with Twins] and now that I get to play third base, it will be great for me at this stage of my career.\u201d\u00a0 Whether Paredes moves to the right side of the infield next year or becomes offseason trade bait remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Correa is owed $103.4MM through 2028, which would represent a $31.4MM CBT hit for the Astros.\u00a0 Given the approximate $33MM the Twins are kicking in, we estimate the Astros\u2019 CBT hit to be around $21MM.\u00a0 Future reporting will surely confirm the figure.\u00a0 The Astros\u2019 CBT payroll sits just below the $241MM threshold, so this trade easily vaults Houston into second-time tax payor status.\u00a0 The trade has echoes of one the Astros made two years ago, when they re-acquired Justin Verlander<\/a><\/strong> after letting him go to the Mets via free agency.<\/p>\n

Known to be seeking a left-handed bat, the Astros nonetheless added Urias and Correa within a short span at the deadline.\u00a0 But shortly after landing Correa, they finally did get a lefty stick<\/a> in the Marlins\u2019 Jesus Sanchez<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Clearly in go-for-it mode, GM Dana Brown pursued\u00a0the Padres\u2019 Dylan Cease<\/a><\/strong> as well, but that did not come to fruition.<\/p>\n

While the Astros have added to their first-place team, the 51-57 Twins have conducted a full-on fire sale.\u00a0 Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey traded a whopping 10 players off his active roster in July<\/a>, including both rentals and controllable players.<\/p>\n

This post was originally published at 3:05pm central time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Correa is coming home to play third base.\u00a0 The Twins have agreed to trade Correa to the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":109943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[67721,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-109942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-carlos-correa","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114952907404095641","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}