With free agency officially underway, the New York Yankees haven’t yet made a new signing, despite several players already being plucked off the market.
The Yankees were reportedly interested in star first baseman Freddie Freeman from the Atlanta Braves, and while they are still involved in the market, the Los Angeles Dodgers have increased their pursuit of the World Series winner from 2021. There’s always a possibility that general manager Brian Cashman swoops in and completes a deal, but the Dodgers clearly view him as a key piece to the future.
The Bombers still have plenty of money to spend with the luxury tax increasing to $230 million. Despite having multiple stud prospects waiting in the wings at shortstop, the team’s interesting Carlos Correa has sparked once again.
Hearing that the Yankees are willing to pay him that amount or above. As @jonmorosi reported, the expectation for Correa is that he’ll get something like a Lindor deal or better. https://t.co/oaE3FpYoiR
— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) March 12, 2022
Francisco Lindor signed a 10 year, $341 million deal with the New York Mets. MLB Insider Hector Gomez is indicating that Correa could land a similar amount, and there’s no question that he is worth the money after phenomenal seasons with the Houston Astros.
The former No. 1 overall pick back in 2012 hit .279 with 26 homers and 92 runs batted in last year. Despite a back injury that required significant attention throughout the 2021 season, Correa still projects as arguably the best shortstop in baseball, logging a 5.8 WAR last season and a .981 fielding percentage with 11 errors over 1,304 innings.
The Yankees have dealt with poor shortstop play for quite some time now, especially on the defensive side. Correa would lock down the position for the next decade and potentially make the shift over to the hot corner one day if he’s open to the possibility.
It will be interesting to see what the Yankees will do with young prospects, Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza. They are not far from making their Major League debuts. The consensus was the Yankees would take a stop-gap approach at shortstop, but if they go with the big-name signing in Carlos Correa, they have an established player who is in the prime of his game at just 27 years old.