Carlos Correa and the Yankees: The Perfect Match
With the Yankees in the market for a shortstop this winter and Carlos Correa hitting free agency, the two sides are a match made in heaven for the next decade.
The Yankees once again left fans wanting more without a World Series appearance for the 12th consecutive season — their second-longest drought without a trip to the Fall Classic since they became the New York Yankees in 1913. The lineup was lackluster, barely being above league-average at 101 wRC+, as too many players (DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, and Gio Urshela to name a few) regressed offensively.
Gleyber Torres had a rough 2021 season, slashing .259/.331/.366 with just nine homers and a 94 wRC+ in 127 games. Excluding the fake 2020 season, he averaged 31 homers, a .511 SLG, and a 123 wRC+ per season over his first two MLB seasons in 2018-19. The 24-year-old infielder was also dreadful defensively with -10 DRS in 915.2 innings at shorstop before moving back to second base (where he debuted at in 2018), as he had -2 DRS in 169.1 innings.
As the Yankees moved Torres back to second base, they decided to put natural third baseman Gio Urshela at shorstop and natural second baseman DJ LeMahieu at third base. LeMahieu had shown in the past that he’s perfectly capable of playing a respectable third base, so that’s not an issue — but Urshela doesn’t have the range to play the most premier infield position.
Even before the Yankees made their decision in September to move Torres back off shortstop to second base, they made a run at trading for Colorado’s Trevor Story, but came up empty, making trades for lefty bats Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo. Trevor Story had an average offensive season with 24 homers and a 100 wRC+ in 142 games, while recording 9 Defensive Runs Saved.
The numbers are besides the point, though. That attempt at acquiring Story, coupled with them moving Torres off short, signaled that the Yankees would be looking to sign a shortstop from the very talented free-agent shortstop class this offseason. That talented shortstop class includes Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Javy Báez, and Marcus Semien — who played second base (and projects better as a second baseman according to OAA) for the Blue Jays in 2021.
Correa was on that 2017 Astros’ team, so fans are still salty about that. Seager is a left-handed, offensive-first shortstop that would thrive in the Bronx. Story, besides this season, has had solid offensive numbers to go with a top-tier glove. Báez isn’t a high OBP guy, but has pop and good defense. Semien would be the cheapest option, despite hitting a career-high 45 homers this year, due to being 31.
For starters, let’s grow up. It’s 2021. I do not care about anything that happened in 2017. I want to win a ring, just like the rest of you guys. I want to experience a Yankees’ parade in New York City, buy all of their championship merchandise, and sit down on a cold January evening and watch a Yankees’ World Series DVD.
So which player gives them the best chance to achieve that goal? Guys, it’s Carlos Correa. It’s so easy. Throw him the bag.
I think there’s a very strong case to be made that Carlos Correa has been one of the league’s best shortstops for a while and is a one of the top-15/20 players in the sport. This season, he was 2nd behind Shohei Ohtani in B-Ref WAR with 7.2 B-Ref WAR and leads all shortstops (min. 50% of games at the position) with 29.3 B-Ref WAR since the start of the 2016 season.
There’s a very good chance that Correa enters free agency with a top-5 MVP finish.
So what goes into Correa being one of the sport’s best shortstops? Well, he’s a complete package. He led American League shortstops this season with a 134 wRC+ and all MLB shortstops with 21 Defensive Runs Saved. Along with a top-5 finish in MVP voting, the 27-year-old shortstop could walk away with a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove as well.
A 134 wRC+ for a shortstop with top-class defense is hard to find. Only 26 MLB hitters had a wRC+ as high as 134 this season (two of the players in the top-20 in baseball were Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, of course) and no fielder besides Correa even reached the 20-DRS plateau.
Something that’s really cool about Correa is that he had a major drop in chase rate this season. He chased 31.9% of pitches out of the zone in 2020, but only 24.1% of pitches out of the zone in 2021. That 7.8-point drop was the second-biggest among all qualified hitters behind American League batting champion and current Astros’ teammate Yuli Gurriel (8.3-point drop in chase rate).
Now you may ask, “How does Carlos Correa stack up against what the Yankees had at shortstop this season?” The Yankees played four players at shortstop during the 2021 season: Gleyber Torres (108 games), Tyler Wade (31 games), Gio Urshela (28 games), and Bronx native Andrew Velazquez (28 games).
Compared to that bunch, Correa’s OBP was 40 points higher. His SLG was 128 points higher. His wRC+ was 44 points higher. And he saved 35 more runs defensively.
It’s a night-and-day comparison between what the Yankees had production wise at shortstop in 2021 to what Correa has been this season.
Something that the Yankees’ offense struggled with as a whole this season was taking advantage of pitches thrown in the strike zone. They were 20th in SLG and 23rd in AVG among all 30 MLB teams this season on in-zone pitches. Guess what? Carlos Correa was 13th in AVG, 26th in SLG out of 98 MLB players this season with at least 250 PA ending on pitches in the strike zone.
Carlos Correa is a very good hitter that takes advantage of pitches in the strike zone. The Yankees, for sure, need more of those hitters.
Also, this guy is a proven winner. 2017 World Series champion (tainted or whatever, he still won a ring). Two-time AL pennant winner. He’s played in 64 postseason games (14 World Series games). 17 homers and 50 RBI. Only Yankees’ Hall of Famer Derek Jeter has more by a shortstop in postseason play.
This guy is a leader. Aaron Judge is the Yankees’ unofficial captain (he should be extended this offseason and named captain, but that’s for another time) but the closest thing to a captain of the Yankees’ infield last year was… Rougned Odor. Yes, I get that’s my bit for my account, but it’s probably also true.
He’s 27 years old… doesn’t turn 28 until next September. He’s going to probably command somewhere around $250 million to $300 million honestly. However, this is the New York Yankees we are talking about. Do they want to win a ring for the first time in over a decade? If they do, they’ll do the dang thing.
Sign Carlos Correa. #CorreaToNYY
P.S. Just because they don’t sign Correa doesn’t mean the Yankees can’t make a marginal improvement at shortstop. My best guess is that Corey Seager is the one wearing pinstripes come Opening Day 2022, and that would still be a very good thing (Twitter User GarySanchezRBW2’s #sauces seem to think the Yankees are “absolutely” signing a shortstop and that Seager is the top priority for the Yankees).
Seager had 16 homers and a 147 wRC+ in 95 games this season (12 homers, 169 wRC+ in 58 games since coming off the IL on July 30). He’s probably an average-at-best defender at shortstop, but that’s better than anything the Yankees have had in a while.