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MN Twins Owner Stepped In, Closed Carlos Correa Trade Himself
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- MN Twins Owner Stepped In, Closed Carlos Correa Trade Himself
Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
Well, it's been two days since the Minnesota Twins hit the full reset button on their future as a Major League Baseball organization by trading away 10 of the 26 players on their active roster, the most notable being $37 million per year shortstop, Carlos Correa .
In the midst of the worst season in his 11-year MLB career , Minnesota offloaded about two-thirds of Correa's remaining contract by trading him back to the Houston Astros , where he became one of the best players in all of baseball from 2015-2021.
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The move was a straight salary dump. Minnesota got a pitcher back in the deal, but he's 26 years old and yet to make it beyond single-A. More details of Correa's departure have come through, since the trade was completed.
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Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
Of course, nobody was surprised to find out that the Pohlad family quickly jumped on their first opportunity to trade the 30-year-old World Series champion, after the Astros first called and showed interest. The trade also moves Correa to 3rd base , something he had been requesting with the Twins for years.
What most do not know yet, however, is that it was actually the Pohlads who were called out of the negotiating bullpen to close out the Correa blockbuster, in place of team president, Derek Falvey.
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Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad closed Carlos Correa deal himself
In fact, according to longtime local columnist, Patrick Reusse (Star Tribune) on a recent episode of "Reusse Unchained" (SKOR North) , Mr. Jim Pohlad himself got on the phone with Astros owner Jim Crane, who he convinced to take on a larger chunk of Correa's remaining money.
It was that final owner-to-owner phone conversation that got the trade done. Meanwhile, Falvey and the newer face of Pohlad ownership, nephew Joe Pohlad, watched from their chairs in the corner of big Jim's office (okay i made that very last part up).
Reusse : "[Astros owner] Jim Crane called and made it happen, apparently."
Judd : "So he called Jim Pohlad?"
Reusse : "Jim Pohlad, he called Jim Pohlad. He did not call Joe [Pohlad]…he called Jim Pohlad and they negotiated the money."
Judd : "So, literally the adults above Falvey decided to work this deal out and told young Derek, 'You're gonna [sit this one out]'?"
Reusse : "Yes. Jim [Crane] called [Jim Pohlad] up and they wanted [the Twins to pay] half [of Correa's remaining money] and [Jim Pohlad] got them down to a third, basically."
Only time will tell how this trade will work out, in the end. If the nearly 31-year-old Correa can't recover from his horrid 95-game start to 2025 (.264/.315/.381) and continues to decline, as he ages, then the future will look fondly back on the fact that Minnesota was able to offload most of his remaining salary back on Houston.
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Should he recover, however, and start looking more like the Carlos Correa of old — who was on pace to be the greatest postseason performer in MLB history when he first left the Astros — then the Twins will look like jackasses. But what's new?
Why would Pohlad need to close out the Correa deal?
I'd imagine that this started when reports were coming out that the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros were still far apart on the money involved in getting a Carlos Correa trade deadline blockbuster done.
Both front offices had their terms in which they were allowed to pull the trigger. When those directives did not align, it was time for the adults to take over, as Judd Zulgad so eloquently put it.
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In a normal scenario, this wouldn't surprise me. Most MLB organizations these days have a "president of baseball operations" running their front offices, a few still employ general managers as their head baseball honcho.
Depending on the team, an owner might want to step in and massage things, when necessary. But Derek Falvey is supposed to be above that. Not only is he president of Minnesota Twins baseball operations, but he's president of business operations too, the only MLB executive right now to hold both titles.
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