Why didn’t the Yankees sign Correa?

When Carlos Correa signed a three-year deal with the Twins — a deal that allows him to opt out after each of the first two seasons — many wondered why the Yankees didn’t try to sign the star shortstop to a similar shortstop.

Both of New York’s top prospects — Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza — are shortstops, which was one of several reasons the Yankees weren’t in contention for any of the luxury shortstops available on the free-agent market. this winter. Corey Seager signed with the Rangers on a 10-year, $325 million deal, while Marcus Semien also came to Texas on a seven-year, $175 million deal. Puerto Rican Javier Báez (Tigers) and Trevor Story (Red Sox) signed seven-year contracts valued at US$140 million.

Correa couldn’t find the long-term contract he was looking for and decided to accept a short deal with an average salary of $35.1 million per year. The Yankees might have been intrigued by the length of the deal, which would have left the job open for one of their young shortstops in the near future, but the annual value held New York back.

Hal Steinbrenner recently noted that the Yankees were already over the $230 million competitive balance tax (CBT) limit, having recently added Josh Donaldson’s contract in a trade with the Twins. According to Spotrac, the Yankees’ payroll for CBT purposes is approximately $251 million, which already places them in the second tax bracket, adding an additional 12% charge to the base rate.

According to sources, what gave the Yankees the most pause were the non-financial penalties involved in exceeding the US$270 million limit, specifically the delay of their selection in the first round of the Draft by a margin of 10 places.

“If it had been just a question of money, maybe they would have made a greater effort to sign Correa to a short-term deal,” the source said. “But the Draft thing kept it from moving forward, especially after the Donaldson deal.”

Although the Twins used the flexibility created by the Donaldson trade to sign Correa, the Yankees believe that acquiring Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt in exchange for catcher Gary Sánchez and Colombian infielder Gio Urshela allows them to improve their defense at third base, shortstop and catching.