BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 18: Carlos Correa #1 of the Houston Astros looks on prior to Game 3 of the ALCS between the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Monday, October 18, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

‘There’s a guy who fits your ballpark’ — How the Twins and Carlos Correa pulled off the offseason’s biggest shock

Dan Hayes and Ken Rosenthal
Mar 23, 2022

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The text hit Thad Levine’s phone at 12:20 p.m. on Friday. It was Scott Boras.

Though the message was somewhat vague, the tone was fairly direct.

“We need to talk.”

It didn’t take long for Levine, the Twins’ general manager, to recognize this was a conversation the team wanted. Baseball’s top agent doesn’t call about just anybody. He had only three prominent clients unsigned: Carlos Correa, Nick Castellanos and Michael Conforto. All were very appealing to the Twins.

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After a quick consultation with Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, Levine scheduled the call. In doing so, he opened the door for the biggest free-agent signing in the Twins’ 61-year history, one that shocked the baseball world and still has the industry buzzing.

Fourteen hours, dozens of exchanges, two late-night pizzas, an impromptu Zoom call and a skipped corporate dinner later, the Twins closed the deal, marking the height of the post-lockout, free-agent frenzy.

Falvey, Levine and other members of the Twins’ front office worked late into the night at the team’s spring-training offices. Boras bounced from Orange County to Phoenix to Houston during the course of the breakneck negotiations. Once the news became official on Tuesday, Correa, 27, became the highest-paid infielder by average annual value in Major League Baseball history. In far more stunning news, he also became a Minnesota Twin.

“I didn’t go to bed until after 3 a.m., and my phone started vibrating vigorously around 5,” Levine said. “Our group does a nice job of maintaining an emotional, even-keel. But when we walked out of here (Saturday morning), I think there was a recognition that something really transcended the organization in some regards, just in a sense of what (Correa) could mean to the team on the field, in the clubhouse.”


Throughout the baseball world, early-morning text threads and Twitter notifications lit up on Saturday with the news that baseball’s most prominent free agent had signed with one of the sport’s smallest-market teams. Even Twins employees who went to sleep Friday night knowing talks with the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star had progressed arose in disbelief of news of a three-year, $105.3 million deal with opt-outs after each of the first two years.

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“I saw an unusual amount of text messages when I woke up,” Twins vice president of communications and content Dustin Morse said. “My mind starts racing. I was pretty sure what I thought it was going to lead to, but nobody really said what it was.

“I quickly went to MLB Trade Rumors and I see the headline. It’s pitch black and I see ‘Twins agree to a three-year deal with Carlos Correa.’ It hit me and it was literally a 15-second moment of ‘Holy shit.’”

This was a move nobody saw coming. The Twins rarely have been a destination for premier free agents. Two of the biggest free agents in franchise history, Nelson Cruz and Josh Donaldson, were aging sluggers in search of one final payday. No Twins player had ever previously earned more than Joe Mauer’s annual $23 million salary.

When the Twins previously spoke with Boras about Correa, they indicated they loved the player. Club owner Jim Pohlad identified Correa as one of his favorites when Falvey held an organizational meeting about the free-agent class in November.

At the same time, the Twins also acknowledged that Correa’s original ask, expected to be in the 10-year, $350 million range, wasn’t realistic for them. But the owners’ 99-day lockout altered the equation, and not simply because Correa changed agents, aligning with Boras. The sport resumed with a compressed time frame, and Correa evidently could not land the original deal he was seeking.

Falvey admits if someone had predicted at the start of the offseason that the Twins would sign Correa to a three-year contract, he would have questioned that person’s thought process.

“I’d probably ask what happened through the course of the winter,” Falvey said. “But I’d be really happy, let’s put it that way.”


The Twins’ push for Correa developed quickly on Friday afternoon at the end of a week that had trended poorly for the club.

Five days earlier, the Twins had made massive headlines.

Falvey and Levine completed three trades from March 12-13 that reshaped the club’s roster and brought much-needed financial flexibility, including shipping Josh Donaldson and his remaining $50 million guarantee to the New York Yankees. Though the Donaldson trade created a vacancy at shortstop when the Twins included recently-acquired Isiah Kiner-Falefa, it also allowed them to reallocate that salary at a moment of their choosing.

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At the time, the Twins had no idea Correa was an option. They instead focused on free-agent shortstop Trevor Story, believing they could make him a competitive offer.

“We didn’t have a clear-cut ‘This is where it’s going,’” Falvey said. “But (Donaldson) opened up some conversations we weren’t having.”

Early in the week, the Twins thought they had momentum with Story. Talks were centered around shorter-term deals with potential opt-outs. The Twins indicated they were open to offering four years in excess of $100 million. They also told Story he would play shortstop, a position not all of their competitors had available.

But negotiations soured late in the week when the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants entered the mix. Story made it clear he was looking for a longer deal, and ultimately received $140 million over six years with the Red Sox.

By Thursday, the Twins had grown discouraged on Story. They looked into other possibilities and discussed trading for Oakland’s Elvis Andrus, among others.

Then Boras sent his text at 12:20 p.m. the next day, and everything changed.

The Twins knew Boras would only be reaching out about Correa, Conforto or Castellanos, and prepared accordingly. With a call scheduled, medicals were requested for all three players at 1:40 p.m. Boras was in Scottsdale, Ariz., to attend Kris Bryant’s introductory news conference with the Rockies. He is based in Newport Beach, Calif., and had taken a late-night flight to Phoenix the night before.

Though the Twins hoped the conversation would turn to Correa, they weren’t about to get overly optimistic.

“One of the many intriguing attributes about Scott is, as much as we’re doing work on our side of what are the best fits for us, he does an extremely active job of trying to figure out what are the best fits for clubs,” Levine said. “We envision (his office) as like this mastermind where there are strings attached from different teams to different players and their pictures are circled on the wall.”

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The call took place in the early afternoon. With Falvey and Levine talking via speakerphone, the three talked at length. Boras didn’t initially mention any names, but suggested he had a player who would be of interest to the Twins.

“’There’s a guy who fits your ballpark, fits your team, we’re talking about leadership, who may be amenable to a shorter term,’” Falvey recalled Boras saying.

Shortly thereafter, Boras mentioned the player was Correa.

“Carlos had a 1.200 OPS at Target Field — he is very comfortable playing there,” Boras said, referring to Correa’s 1.205 career mark in 70 plate appearances at the Twins’ home park. “Plus, (the Twins had) payroll flexibility and a need for a middle-of-the-lineup bat and championship-level player in their locker room for leadership.”

Back in November, Pohlad mentioned to his front office that he was especially impressed by Correa’s frequent clutch performances in the postseason. Hearing Correa may be open to a shorter deal, the Twins made it clear they were interested.

Then Boras intrigued them even more, suggesting Correa potentially would consider a contract between three and four years if the money was right.

“We both perked up,” Levine said. “This is a real opportunity.”

At that point, the sides ended the call and about a half-dozen members of the Twins’ front office huddled as a group. They weren’t sure what they had stumbled onto, but they didn’t want to squander an opportunity they were certain teams like the Houston Astros and Yankees also would pursue.

They went into scramble mode.

“At that point we shifted,” Levine said. “That’s where we literally dropped everything and dedicated the rest of the day to (Correa).”


Rocco Baldelli
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, center, talks with Derek Falvey and Thad Levine in 2019. (Brace Hemmelgarn / Minnesota Twins / Getty Images)

By 4 p.m., Falvey needed a break. With an upcoming call to update Pohlad and a potentially long night of negotiations ahead, Falvey went downstairs to the team’s gym and rode a Peloton for 30 minutes, seeking “to clear my head.”

Before he headed for the showers, a sweaty Falvey ran into Morse. Though he downplayed expectations about what had transpired with Boras, Falvey informed Morse that he and Levine were unlikely to attend a 6:30 p.m. dinner for 35 of the team’s corporate sponsors at the Hyatt Place Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, Fla.

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Around 5:30 p.m., Boras, Falvey and Levine got back on the phone. Falvey made the team’s first offer: Three years, $100 million, no player opt-outs.

The sides hung up and began to interact via text messages. Levine was on his iPad. Falvey was on the desktop computer in his office. They discussed parameters while waiting for Twins team physician Chris Camp and head athletic trainer Michael Salazar to examine Correa’s medical records, a process that can take up to three hours. Salazar had been with the Twins an hour up the road in Venice, Fla., for Friday’s exhibition game against the Atlanta Braves.

Around the same time, Morse, traveling secretary Mike Herman and a group of 10 players sat down with the team’s sponsors in Bonita Springs. While Falvey and Levine exchanged texts with Boras from the team’s spring-training offices, Morse and the Twins were at the corporate dinner, eating lobster, filet mignon, chicken, shrimp and asparagus.

“(Falvey) told me it’s ‘In our best interest if we stay back,’” Morse said.

Sometime in the 8 o’clock hour, members of the Twins front office realized they may be in for a long night. They also realized they were hungry and put in an order from a nearby pizza joint, Mellow Mushroom.

But before the pizza was delivered, Boras and the Twins re-engaged.

At 9:15 p.m., the sides agreed on the concept of player opt-outs for Correa. With the potential for completing a deal increasing, Falvey suggested Twins manager Rocco Baldelli call Correa. Boras, now in Houston with Correa and his wife, Daniella, instead asked for a larger conversation via Zoom. He, Correa and Daniella would participate, along with the Twins’ Baldelli, Falvey and Levine.

“Derek called me and said ‘What are you doing?’” Baldelli said. “I said, ‘Well, I’m about to go to bed.’ He said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t hold you up from going to bed unless it was a Carlos Correa Zoom.’ I went, ‘Oh. OK, whatever you need.’

“You could tell there was some genuine enthusiasm on (Correa’s) side.”


The Zoom with Correa wasn’t Baldelli’s first with a potential free agent. He often is asked to join when a deal is close to give the player a sense of the clubhouse dynamics and the overall Twins experience. Baldelli sometimes can sense when players are going through the motions on such calls. Correa was just the opposite — inquisitive, engaged, charismatic.

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The Twins suspected Correa had reached out to former teammate Marwin Gonzalez for a scouting report on their organization. Gonzalez, who on Sunday signed a minor-league contract with the Yankees, confirmed that such a conversation took place, and that he gave Correa a positive review of his two seasons with the Twins.

“He called me at the last minute, just to ask me how everything was over there,” Gonzalez said. “The coaching staff was great. The front office was great. The only bad thing was the weather, but the weather lasts just one month, the first month of the season. That was it. It wasn’t much. But that’s what he wanted to know.”

Correa had specific questions for the Twins. He wanted to know about the team’s present and future plans. He inquired about family arrangements for Daniella and the couple’s newborn son, Kylo. Toward the end of the session, Boras chimed in, asking Falvey, Levine and Baldelli why they chose to leave their previous clubs for Minnesota.

“I appreciate that from Scott because that may have not been something Carlos might have been aware of that we had done that as well,” Levine said. “I think that mattered to Carlos because this was clearly a monumental shift for him leaving the only organization he ever knew.”

Once the Zoom ended, Falvey and Levine headed to a conference area to eat. A smorgasbord of pizza had arrived, including a large Maui Wowie, which consists of pesto, jerk chicken, applewood smoked bacon, ham and pineapple. The group also ordered a medium pepperoni pizza, wings and two salads. Assistant GM Daniel Adler requested a meatball hoagie.

Once they ate, a final round of waiting began. The sides were in the same ballpark financially, but hadn’t finalized terms. Even though the Twins knew they were close to pulling off the impossible, they were not quite there.

“Scott kind of commented, ‘I’ll be in touch,’” Levine said. “I think from that point forward, every minute felt like 10.”

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Talks advanced soon thereafter. The Twins hit the magic number, offering to pay Correa $35.1 million each season, an average annual figure that exceeded the previous high for infielders — the $35 million the Los Angeles Angels awarded another Boras client, free-agent third baseman Anthony Rendon.

Around 11 p.m., Falvey started to believe Correa would become a Twin.

“Once we started talking a little more about parameters and what that looked like both in term and potential overall commitment, it became a little more clear that we were going to be able to access the top free agent, in our minds, in this whole class,” Falvey said.

A little more than 90 minutes later, at 12:48 a.m., the sides agreed on a limited no-trade clause. At 12:49, they agreed on a deal and a minute later Falvey hopped on a call with Twins president Dave St. Peter to inform Pohlad of the news.

“I reminded (Pohlad) that he had been a champion of Correa from the very beginning of the offseason,” St. Peter said. “We chuckled about it. Jim reminded all of us that this is a big deal. Derek and I kind of laughed and said, ‘We know, Jim. It is a big deal. So thank you. We appreciate your support.’”

While Levine was still ironing out minor details, the team’s executive offices were filled with an air of disbelief. Despite the late hour, the group stuck around for 30 minutes to savor the moment.


Once he got home, Falvey had trouble relaxing.

“I got home, couldn’t go to bed right away,” Falvey said. “My brain was still working, even though I was exhausted.”

Before he fell asleep, Falvey saw news of the signing break on Twitter. Correa had informed Astros catcher Martín Maldonado of his decision earlier, prompting his now-former teammate to tweet at 12:29 a.m.: “Sorry I tried” with two crying emojis. Not long after, Houston TV reporter Mark Berman picked up on the news and confirmed the signing at 1:41 a.m.

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Those who were asleep at that hour received a major jolt when they awakened later in the morning.

Morse, a Twins employee since 2006 and a fan of the team growing up in Lakeville, Minn., is intensely familiar with Twins history. He has been fortunate to rub shoulders with a number of Twins legends over the years, including Hall of Famers Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew and Paul Molitor.

But given Correa’s age and shocking decision, Morse could not remember a moment that matched this one, a move that enabled the team to sell 60,000 game tickets in less than four days. He also could not get his own confirmation until an hour after he woke up, when he spoke with Falvey at 6:15 a.m.

“We are blessed with some really amazing legends,” Morse said. “(But an) in their prime, free-agent signing to come to Minnesota and really be the big name on the board, I’ve never seen anything like it. Never felt anything like it. We felt an immediate impact in our entire organization that morning. And it was so early being on the East Coast, you couldn’t even really celebrate.

“I don’t really ever believe anything until I get it from Derek. I wish I had taped our phone call. He was pretty tired and I was pretty jacked up.”

Fourteen hours. That’s all it took. The Twins were nowhere in their search for a shortstop. They wound up in the center of the baseball universe.

(Top photo: Adam Glanzman / MLB Photos via Getty Images)

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