It’s rare to see a baseball transaction with such a perfect match between timing and substance.
The timing was around 2 a.m. on Saturday in Fort Myers, Fla., the spring training home of the Twins, an early morning hour on the first weekend of March Madness, when baseball news had slowed to a crawl and fresh rumors had not surfaced in hours. The substance was an opt-out-laden, three-year, $105.3-million deal between the Twins and Carlos Correa. Which means that, yes, the best free agent in baseball—originally expected to end up with a long-term deal or, at the very least, with a big-time contender—had chosen a quirky contract structure with a team no one saw coming.
In other words, this deal felt very much like something that would happen at 2 a.m. on a Saturday, meant to be processed either as a wild headline to close down a night or a bombshell to wake up to. Credit to Minnesota and Correa for making sure that it was so literally as well as spiritually. And it could be an ideal situation both for the team, which has telegraphed its desire to win right now, and for the shortstop, who can test the waters again in free agency as soon as next year.
