Carlos Correa To Red Sox? Why Move Would Have Been Slap In The Face To Fans

Boston wisely avoided the top shortstop on the market

The Boston Red Sox did not sign star shortstop Carlos Correa this offseason, nor should they have.

Boston is one week removed from losing their homegrown All-Star shortstop, Xander Bogaerts, to the San Diego Padres in free agency. 

Bogaerts was the longest-tenured position player on the team by a margin of four years, and defacto team captain before accepting the Padres’ 11-year, $280 million contract. 

The Sox now find themselves going into a season without another face of their franchise, this time at a high-profile position and with a lineup that doesn’t inspire much hope.

After a busy week at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, the market for star shortstops thinned, as two of the top three options were scooped up.

Trea Turner accepted an 11-year, $300 million offer from Dave Dombrowski and the Philadelphia Phillies. Obviously, Bogey has found his aforementioned home in San Diego. The remaining member of that top trio was former Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins star Carlos Correa.

Correa was a member of the infamous 2017 World Series Champion Astros roster, and one of its most outspoken members. Correa was not shy about shutting down the initial rumors of cheating, even going so far as to say the Astros had won “fair and square” before eventually admitting his involvement in the trash can scandal.

Last year, Correa entered free agency and cashed in with the Twins, making $35.1 million in the first year of his three-year deal before exercising his opt-out clause. 

His positional counterparts, Turner and Bogaerts, both fetched 11-year deals this offseason and are one and two years older than Correa respectively.

It was safe to assume that Correa was looking for a deal of equal or greater length, and a total value greater than both Bogaerts and Turner. That turned out to be the case when the 28-year-old shortstop reportedly signed a 13-year, $350 million deal with the San Francisco Giants.

The Red Sox ownership and front office just put on full display their lack of willingness to spend money on such mega-deals. Their reported final offer to Bogaerts came in at $160 million, a far cry from what the Padres were willing to give.

A sudden change in philosophy would be not only unheard of, but questionable in its motivation. A panicked scramble to fix a fan relations issue is by no means the most efficient way to solve the problem. Especially when the “fix” in this situation is a character who comes with his own hefty set of baggage and would more than likely be in a position where he would have to win over a majority of the fanbase.

That is all not to mention the optics of not being willing to offer $200 million to a fan-favorite, media-favorite, clubhouse-favorite, but for some reason being willing to increase that price tag by over $100 million for a player who is none of that off the field, and by many metrics is similar in production on the field.

Bogaerts has maintained a 130 OPS+ over the last two seasons. Correa had a 135 OPS+ in the same span. Bogey’s OPS has been .848 to Correa's .842. They have practically the same number of runs batted in, in practically the same number of plate appearances and Bogaerts has a 16-point advantage when it comes to batting average.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has spoken at length about spending money when and where it makes sense for the success of the club.

If that time and place were right now on a shortstop who they would be paying over $100 million more than they offered their franchise cornerstone, for his improved defense and a two-year difference in age, then I would be floored.

No amount of Alex Cora connection, or panicked hands, or anything else for that matter, could convince me that Correa would have been the ideal fit at shortstop for the Red Sox.

The tough fact is, replacing Bogaerts is going to be damn near impossible at the time being, and this situation should have been avoided entirely. Winning a bidding war for a disliked, overrated player was extremely unlikely and, more importantly, undesirable.

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