OPINION: Jed Hoyer, Cubs Made Right Decision Passing on Carlos Correa

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs made the right call, passing on signing two-time American League All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa, who received a massive, 13-year, $350 million contract from the San Francisco Giants, Jack Vita writes.

Over the last 36 hours, Chicago Cubs fans have expressed their discontent with the organization on social media, after the San Francisco Giants gave shortstop Carlos Correa a 13-year, $350 million contract. Correa will be 41 years-old when his deal runs up.

Correa's deal came within a week of Trea Turner collecting an 11-year, $300 million contract from the Philadelphia Phillies and Xander Bogaerts receiving 11 years and $280 million from the San Diego Padres.

Dansby Swanson remains unsigned, and the Cubs could add him if the club wants to sign an All-Star shortstop.

Earlier this week, I penned why the Cubs don't need to sign a shortstop at this time. I think the Cubs are realistically two years away from competing for another National League Central division title, and the club has two young, promising middle infielders already at Major League level that it should focus on developing. I also think the Cubs are more than just a star shortstop away from competing for a division title, and signing a player of Correa, Turner or Bogaerts' caliber wouldn't significantly move the needle.

In addition to that, I also believe that the Correa contract will age very poorly for the Giants.

Correa, when healthy, is a very special player. Durability has been a concern for him, though. Since making his big league debut in 2015, Correa has spent eight seasons in the big leagues. In only three of them has he played 111 games or more. Of course, one of those seasons was shortened to 60 games thanks to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in 2020. Another year was his debut season, in which he didn't receive a call-up until midway through the year. Still, though, the Giants are committing a hefty sum to a player with an injury-riddled past.

Correa's contract is the second-largest in baseball history, behind Aaron Judge. Contracts will continue to inflate in the future, but Correa is still going to be paid like an MVP. In his eight big league seasons, Correa has finished top-15 in American League MVP voting just once: in 2021, when he finished fifth.

In other words, in eight big league seasons, Correa has essentially been a top-15 American League player just once. He's been an American League All-Star twice. And yet, Cubs fans seem to think the club just missed out on the opportunity to acquire Alex Rodriguez in his prime. Correa is not A-Rod.

The Cubs have shown that they will sign free agents to supplement a team that is ready to compete. They did as much after the 2014 and 2015 seasons, signing free agents Jon Lester, Jason Heyward, John Lackey and Ben Zobrist, as well as trading for Dexter Fowler. At that point in time, the club had a number of high-impact young players that were either already at the Major League level, or close to making their big league premiere.

The thing is, realistically, the Cubs aren't at that stage of their rebuild, yet. The Cubs have three outfield prospects on MLB.com's top 100 prospects list: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Brennen Davis and Kevin Alcantara. Davis was on-track for a potential 2022 Major League debut in 2022, but suffered a setback, sustaining a back injury that required surgery and sidelined him for the majority of the 2022 season. Crow-Armstrong and Alcantara are on-track to make their big league debuts in 2024. The Cubs have two promising first basemen that could see the big leagues in 2023: Bryce Ball and Matt Mervis.

Four months ago, MLB.com ranked the Cubs' farm system as the tenth-best minor league system in baseball. Since Theo Epstein's departure, Hoyer was promoted to the role of president of baseball operations, and the club hired Carter Hawkins as the organization's new general manager, the Cubs have entirely remade their farm system, transforming it from the 26th-best farm system in mid-2020 to now the 10th-best. The Cubs are laying the groundwork for the next batch of high-impact, young players to push the club forward to contention, and when Hoyer starts to see the fruits of his labor, he will open up the checkbook and plug holes as he sees fit.

Signing a star player now would essentially waste two years of that player's prime, while potentially simultaneously blocking the development of young players. If the Cubs give a $300 million contract to a player, they will want to max out on that player's prime during their competitive window, before the player fades out of his peak and the club continues to eat $27 million per year.

In short, the Cubs passed on a player that has yet to prove that he will consistently play a minimum of 145 games per season, and do so at an elite level, coming off a 74-win season.

For more from Jack Vita, follow him on Twitter @JackVitaShow, and subscribe to his podcast, the Jack Vita Show, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and wherever podcasts are found.