The beginning and potential end of Carlos Correa's tenure with the Twins were the ultimate in contrasts.
News broke of the star free agent's signing around 1 a.m. on a Saturday morning in mid-March, meaning many Twins fans woke up to the shocking revelation that their usually fiscally conservative team had just made the World Series-winning shortstop the highest-paid infielder in history at $35.1 million a season. Ticket sales jumped. Excitement built.
The catch, of course, was Correa held the opt-outs after 2022 and '23, meaning the three-year deal could realistically end after just one, allowing him to test free agency again. Back then, that felt like something that could be dealt with once the two-time All-Star led the organization back to playoffs redemption after an embarrassing 2021.
Yet months later, Correa's presumptive last game as a Twin barely registered. He watched Wednesday's 10-1 victory over the White Sox from the bench in Chicago, no need to play and risk injury with the Twins 14 games out of the American League Central race and finishing in third place with a 78-84 record. And that "Correa boost for tickets" helped only so much, as the Twins finished the home slate with the lowest attendance in Target Field history, barring the pandemic seasons of 2020 and '21.
Correa, however, did exactly what his hefty salary expected. He immediately assumed a leadership position alongside Byron Buxton. He mentored rookies such as Jose Miranda and pushed third-year player Luis Arraez to assume more of a vocal role. He shared his deep knowledge of statistics and analytics with his teammates. He displayed Gold Glove defense on nearly every play. And he played his best baseball in September to end the year with a .291 average, 64 RBI and 22 home runs.
The rest of the team, though, was on the opposite trajectory. The Twins led the division for much of the first half of the season, but struggled to put everything together at the same time. When the hitting was on, the bullpen blew late games. When the bullpen tightened up in the last months, the hitting became inconsistent. Baserunning never really improved. And injuries plagued almost every position throughout the campaign.
"It's not where we wanted to be at the end of the year," Correa said. "The first three months were very promising, and then everything went downhill."
The Twins finished without injured players Buxton, second baseman Jorge Polanco, right fielder Max Kepler and starter Sonny Gray, among many others. That seemed to be the basis of a final unraveling, one in which the Twins plummeted from a tie for first place to elimination in the span of 20 days in September.
