When the New York Mets made Juan Soto the highest paid athlete in sports history, they deprived the New York Yankees of an offensive force that will be difficult to replace. Soto’s 7.9 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) number was sixth in the Major Leagues. His .989 OPS (on base plus slugging percentage) was second. His 41 home run total was third.
The Yankees’ effort to fill in for the loss of Soto has so far been half-hearted. Instead the Yankees have focused primarily on upgrading their pitching staff. On the offensive side, their only move of any significance this offseason has been their trade with the Chicago Cubs to bring in outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger — who posted a 2.2 WAR and .751 OPS with 18 home runs last season for the Cubs. Not exactly Soto-level production.
In an effort to continue to compensate for the loss of Soto’s offense, as well as to simply bring in another All Star caliber player, a prominent Yankees podcast now urges the team to trade for a player who, in his last fully healthy season, led the Major Leagues in WAR.
Yankees Urged to Target Twins Shortstop Carlos Correa
That was his 7.2 number in 2021 — but Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa was “having one of the best seasons of his career… on a scorching midsummer heater” in 2024, as Twins Daily put it, when he was benched with a heel injury on July 13.
But Correa turned out to have an even worse malady, the painful foot condition known as plantar fasciitis.Correa returned on September 14 and played 11 more games, batting .325 the rest of the way, with 13 hits in 40 at-bats.
Counting on Correa to continue his trend back toward full health, Fireside Yankees co-hosts Ryan Garcia and Alex Wilson last week called on the Yankees to acquire Correa from the Twins.
“We want Carlos Correa. If the Twins are at least listening on conversations, that means they’re not off the table,” Garcia said on a December 26 podcast. “This guy’s a monster in the playoffs, he’s a monster in the regular season.”
“You’ve punched your ticket to the World Series with a move like that,” added Wilson. “That’s an ‘American League, watch out. You are on notice,’ type of move. If they get Carlos Correa, the Yankees would have such a balanced lineup. They would end up walking away a better team.”
In a post on their X (formerly Twitter) account, however, they acknowledged that “the financial hurdle and prospect haul could be a ton,” but they add, “this move would cement the Yankees as legitimate World Series contenders.”
Correa Still a Villain in New York Over Astros Scandal
The Twins had a total payroll of $129,080,051 in 2024, 19th in MLB. Correa, just two years into a six-year, $200 million contract consumed 26 percent of that payout. Obviously, if the Twins plan to maintain a low-to-midrange payroll, dumping Correa’s salary would certainly be a priority.
But not all Yankee-watchers were on board with putting Correa in pinstripes. The main reason seems to be Correa’s allegedly leading role in the Houston Astros 2017 sign-stealing scandal, when he was a member of that team. The Astros defeated the Yankees 4-3 in the American League Championship Series that season, and went on to win the World Series. Yankee fans and some players continue to resent that scandal.
“Correa isn’t just expensive—he’s four years, $200 million expensive. That’s the kind of money you drop on an MVP bat, not a guy who might spend his first month in pinstripes dodging boos louder than the subway at rush hour,” wrote the blog Bleeding Yankee Blue. “Sure, he’s talented, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin
