A look at who is trending up and down the past week in Minnesota sports, including presumably happy Twins pitchers and a couple players who entertain win or lose. Minnesota added Pablo Lopez last week – albeit at the expense of Luis Arraez – to help form what is shaping up to be a decent rotation.
Mondesi will be a free agent after 2023. Dozier, a 31-year-old potentially signed through the 2025 season, has failed to make good on what appeared to be a breakout season in 2019.
There were seven arbitration-eligible players on the Reds’ roster, but reliever Buck Farmer reached an agreement on a one-year, $1.725 million deal to avoid arbitration in November. The Reds’ projected payroll for the 2023 season currently sits around $80 million, a sharp drop after it sat around $110 million last year.
FILE - Minnesota Twins' Carlos Correa reacts while batting during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)
At the onset of this historic offseason of spectacular spending, it was clear that the Twins were going to make a sincere effort to retain Correa, the superstar that all but fell in their lap after a much different but similarly unlikely sequence of events last offseason. As the days passed and the Mets failed to reach consensus with Correa’s camp over proper contract language regarding possible protection in the case of an ankle injury, the window appeared to be slowly be re-opening for Minnesota to continue their efforts to retain Correa — a goal that had at no point wavered as long as Correa had yet to put pen to paper for another franchise.
The specific teams in contact with Baltimore aren’t clear, although he’s a natural fallback target for clubs that haven’t addressed the position via free agency. Teams could place more of a premium on athletic defenders as a result, since it’ll be more difficult to compensate for players who have below-average range via strategic positioning.
Right-hander Ross Stripling and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a two-year, $25 million contract that includes an opt-out after the first season, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Reliever David Robertson and the New York Mets are in agreement on a one-year, $10 million contract, a source familiar with the deal tells ESPN.
Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him as an above-average shortstop in every season of his career. Statcast has pegged Correa as 17 runs above average since it began tracking defense in 2016, including plus grades each year from 2018-21.
