Correa signing will irritate NL West rival Dodgers
The Giants have a conundrum on their hands: At the position of most defensive pressure, do they play their aging franchise icon, or their most expensive free agency signing in franchise history?
Farhan Zaidi put his team in this position by reportedly agreeing to a 13-year, $350 million contract with Carlos Correa on Tuesday night, adding the second-biggest star free agent in a class where some Giants fans saw only one.
He just may soothe some of those fans upset that the Giants missed out on reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge, but he also accomplished something many San Francisco fans will appreciate: He's trolled the Dodgers.
Correa was one of the Astros' biggest stars during their 2017 World Series season, which has since been marred by the sign-stealing scandal that saw GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch fired, but no sanctions against the players themselves.
The Dodgers were the NL's representative in that dramatic World Series, losing to Houston in seven games.
Cody Bellinger may have been the most outspoken Dodger in the wake of the scandal, saying in 2020 that the punishment was weak and accusing the Astros of cheating for the past three seasons. (MLB's investigation found the cheating continued into 2018, then stopped.)
“I think what people don't realize is (José) Altuve stole an MVP from (Aaron) Judge in '17,” Bellinger said. “Everyone knows they stole the ring from us.”
Correa took responsibility for the players' actions, but pushed back against accusations that the Astros were still cheating.
“Two and something years after that happened, we still feel bad about it. We go to bed thinking about that. What people have to say, they're in all their right because we were wrong,” Correa said in 2020 after MLB's investigation. “But when players stand up there and they accuse us of stuff that didn't happen, especially in 2019, that doesn't sit well with me.”
Just last week, insider Ken Rosenthal reported that the Dodgers, normally in the hot stove mix, were shying away from pursuing Correa in free agency because they knew the team's fanbase would be upset if LA brought in the face of the Astros' scandal.
Simmering resentment didn't stop Zaidi, who was the Dodgers' general manager at the time, from bringing Correa to San Francisco, where he'll be managed by Gabe Kapler, also a member of the Dodgers' organization in 2017 as the director of player development before being hired the next offseason to manage the Phillies.
The Giants were tied to Bellinger in free agency, but he ultimately landed in Chicago with the Cubs. They did sign another 2017 Dodger Tuesday, though, inking a two-year deal with pitcher Ross Stripling, who joins fellow 2017 runners-up Alex Wood and Joc Pederson in San Francisco.
Stripling in 2020 said that he had thought about whether he'd intentionally hit Astros' batters if he had the chance. But upon George Springer's 2021 arrival in Toronto as a Blue Jays teammate, Stripling confronted the ex-Astros outfielder about the scandal and hashed things out. He may need to repeat that conversation once he and Correa both arrive in San Francisco.
Pederson said in 2020 that the report brought up bad feelings, but did not get into questions of integrity. He later got his revenge on the Astros as a member of the Braves in the 2021 World Series.
After the report came out, Wood was in the same camp as Bellinger as he had just re-signed with LA.
“The casual fan does not understand, I don't think, at least up until this point, what knowing what pitch is coming does for a lineup and for a guy,” he told The Athletic in 2020.
“It's huge. It's huge.”
If the Stripling-Springer interaction is any indication, it seems likely there will be some questions for Correa to answer, but ultimately, the pursuit of the 2023 World Series will supersede lingering anger about 2017 … which just might upset Dodgers fans even more.
For those wondering, the Giants' first visit to Dodger Stadium, where Correa will surely be serenaded in boos, is set for June 16-18.