Fantasy Baseball Today - 🚨Carlos Correa signs with the San Francisco Giants! - Emergency Podcast (12/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: December 14, 2022

Carlos Correa just signed a 13-year, $350 million contract with the San Francisco Giants! What does it mean for his Fantasy value? Does it help anybody else in the Giants lineup? Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Well, good thing I was up late playing video games because we have an emergency. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, December 14th. Frank Sanfell joined by Scott White and another Domino Falls. A massive domino at that. The San Francisco Giants find the new face of their organization, signing Carlos Correa to a 13-year, $350 million contract. This is the fourth largest.

guaranteed contract in MLB history behind Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and Aaron Judge. Let's talk about Correa. Scott, it was a fine season for him last year. He hit 291, 22 homers. The counting stats were lacking. I think that's more so to do with the Minnesota Twins lineup, the fact that they were dealing with a lot of injuries.

Your overall thoughts. Initial reaction, Carlos Correa, moving into Oracle Park and San Francisco. Well, my initial reaction is, my gosh, how old am I going to be by the time Carlos Correa's contract is up? How old are my kids going to be? It kind of boggles the mind to think about. 13 years, a long time.

It's a long time to commit to anything. And, yeah, I mean, that's just, you know, obviously we've seen a lot of these double-digit year contracts signed. I think there was only, I think I was reading a Jason Stark tweet. there was only one ever for a player that was changing teams signing for 10 plus years, the Bryce Harper deal. And just in the past few weeks, we've seen a handful, you know, just in the past few days. Crazy.

So it's, you know, it's clearly a trend. And look, when you break it down, 27 million, 12, 27 million a year for Carlos Correa, I mean, if that's how you want to look at it, you know, that seems. modest. It's just you're committing that up through his age 41 season. So it's weird how things are trending now with the extra long deals for players who certainly won't be able to live up to them toward the end of those deals. But that's what it takes to get to get these game-changing players. I think what the contract also shows, though, the 13 years 350 million, of course, historic eye-popping number.

It really shows the disparity between Correa's real-life value and his fantasy baseball value because fantasy baseball is just not that big of a deal, you know? He's a good player. Everybody who drafts him is going to be starting him, but he's not going to be drafted that early. A position, a star-studded position like shortstop, it's hard to get. him inside the top 12 even. I have him inside my top 12,

but early ADP has him outside the top 12 at shortstop. Either way, whether it's slightly in, slightly out, you're talking about kind of an also-ran at a position with some really big ticket items.

And, you know, obviously we're not having to concern ourselves with defense. we're not having to, you know, not just the fact, okay, Carlos Correa is an excellent defender, but he's also an excellent defender at the most premium position. So, you know, we've seen him put together seven-win seasons when he's at his very best.

Like, yes, he's an excellent real-life player. But in fantasy, you know, decidedly second tier. And this signing, even for this amount, doesn't change that. Now, I do think Carlos Correa might be a little underrated in fantasy. I have,

I rank him where I do, 11th at shortstop, but I'm fine taking him as my starting shortstop. I would rather do that. Let the procession of high-in short-stops go off the board

while I focus on thinner positions and then settle for Carlos Correa as my starting shortstop more toward the middle of the draft. I'm fine with that. I think that's a good plan. But nonetheless, that's how he's valued in fantasy. And I actually agree with that, Scott. I've done two and a half NFBC draft so far. And I did exactly that. I have Correa in two of them. And if you look at the early ADP, he's going at pick 124 right now. Then there's a huge gap. There's about 17.

spots after that where you see the next shortstop eligible player Nico Horner and there's 20 spots after that where you see Javier Baez. So Correa kind of marks the kind of the last option, the last like real starting option that I feel good about being my starting shortstop for fantasy purposes. I think you could probably make the case that he's a better points league player at this point too because he does walk quite a bit over a 10% walk rate in his career. He makes a lot of contact. He doesn't really run anymore. So I think he's an okay fallback option in categories. and I think he's a perfectly fine starter in a head-to-head points league. Let's talk to- Yeah, I mean, I think he's a perfectly fine starter either.

Right. The fact Willie Adomis is ahead of him doesn't make a lot of sense to me. What I look at, like, I think this is a good comparison for Carlos Correa. Carlos Correa versus Xander Bogarts. I feel like Carlos Correa's best case scenario is better than Zander Bogartz at this point in their careers. And yet Bogarts, who himself is more of a points league player, a better fit in points leagues. But even in early ADP for 5x5 leagues on NFBC, Bogart's is going about 40 picks earlier than Correa.

Now, a lot of that is, okay, Correa has an injury history that Bogart's doesn't have. I think that's driving a lot of it. But I think a lot of it's also being driven by Correa being unfairly dinged for this ridiculously low combined run an RBI total he had with the twins last year, combined for 134 runs in RBI. And that's just never going to happen again.

You mentioned the twins lineup wasn't the greatest last year. Even so, even taking that into account, that just seems totally improbable that the player like Correa would have so few, so little in both through run and RBI column, and that helped drive down his value too. So, you know, the Giants don't, project to have the most amazing offense either,

but I don't think it matters. No matter where Correa wound up, we're going to see correction in those two categories that's going to help improve his standing in fantasy. And what if I told you, Scott, that the Giants were 11th in runs scored last year? I couldn't believe it when I saw that. I felt like they were an offense that we picked on

when streaming pitchers that they weren't that good, but kudos to them. I mean, you know, their front office, their coaching staff does a really good job, their hitters in positions to succeed day and day out. So they really do get the best of it. And the Giants lineup, based on run scored, they were better than the twins last year.

So I agree. I think the counting stat should be on the rise. Scott, talk to me again about just the fit here with San Francisco. The lineup not nearly as bad as, you know, we think based on where they ranked last year. They bring in Mitch Hanager. And the park is interesting because I think our original thought is just, man, whoever goes to San Francisco as a hitter,

this is just a black hole. Last three years in terms of overall park factors for right-hand batters. Oracle Park is sixth best for righties. Target field in Minnesota was 22nd. So based on that, this should actually help the offense for Carlos Correa. What do you think about that? For home run specifically, Oracle Park does rank worse, but it ranks close to where Minnesota is.

Since Oracle Park was constructed, of course it was known as a different name then. In the early days, it was far and away. the most pitcher-friendly park. It was basically like a black hole. And so I think it still holds that reputation. But in recent years, as you point out, it's not so bad anymore. It's not a hitter's park by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a more ordinary pitchers park than this outlier that it used to be.

And particularly coming from Minnesota, itself a pitchers park. I don't think that factors into my ranking for Coray at all, fact that he's going to San Francisco. In fact, according to Stacass, it's expected at home run number. If Correa had played every game at Oracle Park last year, he actually would have hit two more home runs than he actually did, 24

instead of 22. Boom. We'll take that. All right. Well, let's talk about the ADP, I guess, Scott. You kind of talked about it already, but 14 shortstop off the board. He's going behind Jeremy Pena. He's going behind a mederazario. I'm sure you don't agree with that. Would you take him over someone

like, you just brought up his name. Willi Adamas. Would you take him over Willie Adamas? Because right now he's going about like 24 spots behind Willie Adamas. You would. Yeah, the only well, I shouldn't say the only. Because Correa hasn't stolen a base since

2019. Yeah, he's not going to steal anything. So that hurts his life too. Right. Yeah. And Adamus, you know, it's not like he's a big base dealer, but there's he seems more likely to increase that total with the changes

that are taking effect next year with the limited pickoff throws and all that, then Correa will be. So there might turn out to be a bigger gap in the Steel's column than there already is. And there's a chance

Willie Adomas could outperform Correa and home runs too. But I don't think the home runs are a given. I mean, Correa is capable of hitting more home runs than he did last year. And his career high is only 26,

but that's, you know, with a lengthy injury history, a lot of missed time. If you just look at how, Hardy impacts the ball. There's the potential for Correa to be a 30 homer guy for sure. So I think it might be a close call with the home runs between him and Hadamas. And in terms of batting average runs in RBI, despite what happened last year,

like I definitely give Correa the edge in those three categories. So overall, even if we're talking about a five-by-five league, yeah, I'd rather have Correa than Adama's. And in a points league, it's no contest. Yeah. I think it comes down to what you need at that point in your draft. think you're trading off some batting average from Adamas to Correa for a little bit more power and six to eight steel, something like that that you're going to get from Willie Adomas. How about Correa versus Wander Franco?

Scott, can I get you to say Correa there? Yes. Ooh, spicy. I do have Correa over Wander Franco. Yeah, I do. Yeah. All right. I don't in points leagues because Wander Franco hardly ever strikes out.

Yep. But if we're talking about Roto, let me just double check because I only have my points league rankings pulled up here. I mean, Wander Franco, I have serious questions about his power at this point. And it's not like he's a big base dealer himself. So as young as he is, as great as his pedigree is, I don't want to condemn Wander Franco to being exactly what he's been so far. But the data doesn't pay to Rolfo.

close a picture for him. So yeah, I have him one spot behind Correa in five by five weeks. All right. Last question here, Scottie. Does this improve the stock of anyone around Carlos Correa in this lineup? Mitch Hanager, Jock Peterson, Tyro Estrada currently projected to lead off according to Rossor Resource. Do you think this helps any of those names out? I mean, it'd be hard to quantify it. Yes, the Giants lineup gets better with Carlos Correa in the middle of it. He is the one player who I think will for sure be playing every day. Hanager probably will too. But, I mean, Kare is the only one.

There's no doubt. I mean, as much as the Giants like to mix and match, like you pointed out earlier, Frank, they really play the matchups. And they play the matchups in not so obvious ways either. It's not like lefty-righty. It's not like history against this pitcher. It's angle of the swing versus angle that the pitch comes in, like really sophisticated stuff.

I love playing matchups. So it would be hard to pick out anybody in their life. lineup who's going to get consistent enough playing time to say, okay, Correa definitely helps being in there. They're all helped by Correa in there, but enough that it's going to rearrange the rankings for me, probably not. All right. And I will quickly point out that the chat has mentioned a few times here that the Giants defense was not very good last year. And this helps. There's no doubt about that. The signing Carlos Correa helps your defense. So potentially could help some of their pitchers as well. Logan Webb, heavy ground ball pitcher. They just signed

Ross Tripling. We'll talk about that on an upcoming podcast as well. But yeah, all around, great signing for the San Francisco Giants, albeit a very long one, 13 years, $350 million for Carlos Correa. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching this emergency edition of Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back later on tonight. Bye-bye.