The New York Yankees had five star-level shortstops available in free agency, but opted to go with Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a trade acquisition, for the 2022 season. Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien, and Javier Baez ended up going to other teams because the Yanks wanted to trust young prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza to take over sometime in the next two years.
Correa, in particular, made perfect sense for the Yankees: he hit 26 homers in 2021, with 104 runs, 92 RBI, and a Gold Glove award at shortstop. The Twins showed Carlos Correa $105.3 million and they signed him.
Several things happened in the offseason and the Yankees soured on Correa
The Yankees, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, weren’t actually that keen on signing Correa. Here’s what the insider said via the Big Baseball Podcast:
“The Yankees had a couple things that were going on with Correa that — I don’t know that it was him, necessarily — but he was with Houston. They didn’t love that. He did make that comment about Derek Jeter early in the offseason (he said the Captain didn’t deserve any of his Gold Glove awards). They didn’t love that. He was very close to Alex Rodriguez. I’m not sure that he is now. But I don’t think they loved that either, though Alex Rodriguez was the key guy that helped them win their last World Series championship. But he’s not exactly Mr. Popularity around the Yankees now.”
Correa, however, could return to the market in the next offseason, as his three-year deal has opt-outs after 2022 and 2023. Could the Yankees consider a move then? It will likely depend on the progress of Peraza and Volpe.
There may be, however, some animosity between the Yankees and Correa at this point, making any move unlikely.
It’s baseball, so anything can happen, though.