Minnesota Twins PoBO Publicly Welcomes Trade Offers for Carlos Correa

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Nov 15, 2024

Carlos Correa, Minnesota Twins — Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins are embarking on a very important, and telling, offseason. Just one month after the Pohlad family put a “For Sale” sign in front of Target Field — and one year since they mandated a $30 million cut to player payroll — baseball presidents Derek Falvey and Dave St. Peter have been trying to sell a winning dream for 2025, to their fans. But, there’s a problem.

You can only ‘cry wolf’ so many times, before promises ring hollow on a fanbase growing more apathetic every summer. My MN sports fan 6th sense is tingling. It’s starting to feel like the Twins are planning an offseason yard sale on their roster. The focus? Unloading the best and most expensive players, in order to allow “more flexibility”. If true, standing front and center when potential buyers walk in, is a slightly used Carlos Correa.

Carlos Correa + New York trade rumors starting to rumble…

Insiders around the MLB feel weird about the Minnesota Twins, too. That’s why, on Saturday, MLB insider Joel Sherman (New York Post) called for either the New York Yankees or New York Mets to swing a blockbuster trade to land Correa in The Big Apple.

Structurally, the Twins don’t work. Their three key positional pieces — Correa, Buxton and Lewis — are injury prone. The trio started together just 26 times last year. Keeping that nucleus intact leaves Minnesota too vulnerable to playing too often without one or more of them.

Financially, the Twins don’t work well. The Twins, with uncertainty about their local TV deal, slashed payroll about $30 million in 2024 to around $125 million and plan to be roughly at that level this year. But they signed Correa at a $33.3 million average for six years with the belief that payrolls would be $150 million-ish or more.
Joel Sherman (New York Post)

So… wow. I’m going to mostly ignore the fact that it only took one phone call from a New York reporter for Twins president of baseball operations, Derek Falvey, to sing like a songbird. In Sherman’s report, more of which is below, we found out that (a) last season’s player payroll cuts were 100% due to uncertainty surrounding the Twins’ television contract with Diamond Sports Group. It was not about “rightsizing” the budget of a failing business model.

Twins PoBO Derek Falvey blindsided by player payroll cuts

Also, Sherman reveals that (b) the Minnesota Twins’ front office was as blindsided by the Pohlad payroll cuts as fans were. When the Twins re-signed Carlos Correa for $33 million per season, Falvey & Co expected to be operating with a future player payroll budget of $150 -$160 million.

Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa - Minnesota Twins — Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Had the Twins PoBO known Twins ownership was going to cut player spending that drastically, there is no way they would have considered bringing Carlos Correa back. You just don’t pay one player $33 million dollars, when you have 40 other players to fit into a $120-130 million budget.

For months, we have heard Derek Falvey spew lies to local reporters about how thankful he is for the Pohlad family. How Minnesota Twins owners have given his front office everything it needs to build a World Series roster.

Now, in mid-November, we find out that was all bologna… which brings us back to an overarching question, looking forward to 2025. Do the Twins really have a tight budget problem? Or… do they have a Carlos Correa problem? Because those are two very different things, even if both are caused by cheap owners.

Minnesota Twins invite trade offers for Carlos Correa

Oh, you think I am letting my imagination run wild? That I am getting hysterical and starting conspiracy theories? What if I told you that the author of this NYP article actually talked to — and got direct on-record quotes from — Minnesota Twins PoBO Derek Falvey for his story? Because he did, and the on-record quote sounds more like a sales ad.

“If they came at us, we’re open-minded to anything,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “Obviously Carlos has a full no-trade clause. We love him. We’re always open-minded when teams hit us on all of our players. We’ve been hit on Carlos before, we’ve been hit on Byron [Buxton] before, we’ve been hit on Royce [Lewis] before. That’s not shocking to anybody, but we hold an extremely high bar to even start that conversation, and I still feel like those guys are critical to our success.”
Twins president Derek Falvey (as relayed by the New York Post)

We all know that front offices around professional sports are constantly talking to each other about different players. They make it known who they lo like, and who they don’t. Trade ideas are floated, interest is gauged. These things probably happens all the time.

Derek Falvey isn’t supposed to say the quiet part out loud…?

But the first rule about superstar trade talks, is that you never talk publicly about superstar trade talks. And you absolutely do not go on record with a major national media outlet about those conversations. Then, in the next breath, I love how Falvey pretty much tells everyone reading ‘oh, and we are also taking calls on Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis, too’.

Maybe Derek Falvey should just put Correa, and other highly paid Twins, onto Facebook Marketplace. That would be sure to drum up more interest. ‘Superstar Shortstop (and others) for Sale – Past injury issues but works GREAT when healthy‘

Just think about how insane that above quote is from Falvey. For example, Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations, Tim Connelly has made a few stunning trades in his day. Never has he gone on-record (with a NY media tabloid) and openly welcomed other teams to call on Anthony Edwards.

Look at what happened with Karl-Anthony Towns, before he was shipped him out of town. Even KAT was in complete shock when gangster Tim rolled up and told him he had been traded, (four minutes prior to when the deal was reported on Twitter, by Shams).

Minnesota Vikings General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who has made some media mistakes in his day, would never be caught talking on the record with reporters about all the trade offers he is kicking around with other NFL GMs, regarding Justin Jefferson. Maybe these calls do take place. If so, however, they are kept under wraps.

Minnesota Twins fans should brace themselves for Correa’s exit

Unless, of course, you are inviting more teams to call with more trade offers. Then, it would make sense to go to one of the biggest tabloid media outlets in the world, trying to spread the trade rumors. That’s what a team who can no longer afford their $33 million superstar would probably do.

So… if you are a Minnesota Twins fan who enjoys Carlos Correa, I have some bad news for you. He probably won’t be in your favorite team’s uniform by the time Spring Training rolls around. At least, not if Derek Falvey and the Pohlads can help it.

People who have played with Correa will tell you he is obsessed with winning and trying to make the Hall of Fame — both clearer shots with a New York team, especially if the Twins suggest that his contract at their current payroll will lead to at least a soft rebuild — a message to not use his no-trade clause as a preventative measure.

Correa’s remaining contract and dubious durability — let’s call it a probable 120-ish games a year — works far better with a team like those in New York with a $300 million-ish payroll to work around it than a $120 million-ish allotment.
Joel Sherman (New York Post)

Let’s be honest. The Twins’ marriage with Carlos Correa doesn’t make sense anymore. He wants to play in the postseason year-after-year, and make World Series runs. Meanwhile, the Pohlads want to cut off player spending to a number that’s below league average, then brainwash fans into thinking they care about winning. Those two approaches do not align.