Categories: Rumors

Phillies interested in all 4 star shortstops, including Carlos Correa

Carlos Correa is a free agent. (Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire)

While Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts have been the two names connected most frequently with the Philadelphia Phillies in free agency, Jon Heyman of The New York Post hears that Dave Dombrowski and company are interested in all four of the star shortstops available.

That includes Carlos Correa, according to Heyman.

Correa declined a 10-year/$275 million offer from the Detroit Tigers early last offseason, in search of a larger deal. Such an offer never came, and Correa ultimately departed Houston for a three-year/$105.3 million deal with the Minnesota Twins that included a chance to return to free agency after each season.

While Correa didn’t match his excellent final season with the Astros, he still slashed .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs, 64 RBIs, an .834 OPS and a 4.4 WAR, according to FanGraphs. That was enough for Correa to opt out of his deal and return to the free-agent market for the second consecutive offseason.

As Heyman notes, Correa is the youngest of the four star free agents shortstops, set to play next season at age 28. Bogaerts, meanwhile, is 30, and Turner will turn 30 in June.

Additionally, Correa wasn’t eligible to receive a qualifying offer from the Twins since he already declined one from the Astros last offseason. So unlike Turner, Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson, the Phillies wouldn’t have to surrender draft compensation if they sign Correa.

With that said, because Correa is younger and doesn’t have a qualifying offer attached to him, he’ll likely get the largest deal of the quartet of shortstops.

Over on Audacy Sports, I projected that Correa, a former No. 1 overall pick, will receive a nine-year/$295 million deal in free agency. Meanwhile, Turner’s projection is eight years and $264 million, while both Bogaerts and Swanson, in my estimation, will be looking at seven-year pacts.

As Phillies Nation‘s Nathan Ackerman noted this week, there’s a lot to like — and some to dislike — about all four of these shortstops.

Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported earlier this week that the Phillies are “considered the favorites for Turner,” and there’s no reason to think that isn’t still the case.

Bogaerts may very well be the fallback option if things go south with Turner. Heyman reported last month

that the Phillies “have real interest” in the four-time All-Star, who Dombrowski got an up-close view of when he was the president of baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox.

But it would be malpractice not to turn over every stone in pursuit of a star shortstop, and that includes Correa and Swanson. And perhaps this reported interest means that the Phillies would like a resolution in the coming weeks, and perhaps even days from their top target.