INSTANT REACTION: Carlos Correa reportedly returning to the Houston Astros! 🚀

Astros reportedly acquire INF Carlos Correa from the Twins, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.

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This is massive breaking news. Brian McTagarded with this. Uh, the Astros have agreed to deal to reacquire Carlos Karee in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. John Haymon, one of our many insiders working the phones right now. Uh, John, this is a massive, massive trade. What can you tell us? Yeah, absolutely. When Bob Ninguel suggested this was a possibility a day or so ago, I I think few believed it and it looks it like it is coming to fruition. They are finalizing the deal. Koreah is on board with going back to Houston where he starred obviously won World Series there. They love him. He loves it. He loved it in Minnesota frankly and they liked him very much too. But this is the one team that he was going to improve to. Obviously uh the finances were something to work out and apparently they are working them out as we speak and uh it will be a deal. Koreah will go back to Houston. Obviously they lost Pareedes to injury. He’s out for a couple months. That’s a big blow, but he’s going to have to play third base because obviously Jeremy Pñena, an all-star shortstop, is their shortstop now. And obviously Koreah is a terrific defender. Everybody believes he can be good at third. He was willing to do it uh in free agency for the Mets and apparently willing to do it again for his old team in Houston. Now, what is Carl Korea’s contract? I mean, this is not a rental player, correct? So, he’s got three more years. As you look at the roster, Parades may be out for the rest of this year, but you got Christian Walker at first base. Pena is going to come back and be your shortstop, but he free agency is coming up for him. Is he though? So maybe Karee I guess could be the long-term answer at shortstop. I’m trying to think about this, John, beyond just the 2025 season. How do you see it? Yeah, I mean uh Ping is not a free agent, so you know, he’s still going to be the shortstop next year. uh you know he he was close to a deal before he changed agents re recently but he will be likely become a free agent at some point and Houston has trouble uh holding on to their great free agents but apparently they they like to bring some of them back and they’re going to bring Kareah back it’s it’s quite something Kareah is a terrific defender can play third it’s a little surprising we’ll see how the finances work out here but Houston is a go for team obviously they’ve lost Bregman they lost Tucker they’ve previously had lost Koreah and they are still in first place. They do a terrific job and I give them credit and uh you know they’ve tried several other things as well, but this is the one that works. Kareah wants to be there and uh it’s good for the Twins because they had a little bit of a money situation there as well. Huge trade. Uh John Haymon, thank you. Carlos Kareah traded from the Twins back to the Houston Astros. Uh just from contract perspectives, Pena has got two more years. Esso Parade says two more years, but I do remember uh Jeremy Pñena’s extension talks were tabled if you remember that. Yeah. And I’m not I’m wondering if if that moment in time impacts this move because Parades they love he’s going to be back in the fold. Uh we’ve got Yordon Alvarez, you got Christian Walker’s in the fold. This is three more years at 92 million for Carlos Korea and he’s not playing third for three man for nine year $92 million. I’m I’m not convinced he’s gonna say, “Oh, okay. I’ll go to play third.” He’s an alpha male who can still play short. They got a problem. They just do. Well, he might do it for this year to help. I’m I’m telling you, even this year, if Pena comes back before Paradus, he’s playing third base. And he had a no trade clause, so he must be okay with playing third base, even on a short-term basis. That’s what we’re hearing. I’m just saying there’s a there’s there’s more to this dynamic. I think because who did he train at short? He trained Pena coming along after him. Carlos Karez is not gonna go P is a gold glove short stop. I I I get it. But Carlos Koreah, he he thinks himself way higher than that. I just can’t see him saying, “Okay, yeah, third base.” Sounds like he’s doing this for all the right reasons. Well, the bottom line is they’ll find a way to make this work. This is one of the great postseason players of our generation. Absolutely. Now, in a perfect world, the Astros wanted a left-handed bat. This is a heavily right-handed hitting team, but this is a premier right-handed. I just I just feel like he’s such a leader and he has not been gone that long. And I just I I don’t know. We’ll see. It’s a great It’s a great acquisition. And you can talk about next year all you want, but I still think that factors into right now. And if I’m if I’m paying you, I got to seriously go, what are we doing here, guys? On the other side, you do. You got to have a conversation. That’s serious. On the other side of this, before we throw it over to Steve and Joel Sherman, Byron Buckton’s like, “Hey, I want to be with the Minnesota Twins. I love it here. No trade clause. I’m not going anywhere.” Does this change the way Byron Buckston looks at Well, it obviously did for Carlos Koreah, right? Things have changed a lot in Minnesota. They thought they had a contending team. They’re a big-time seller right now. Teams for sale. The stability of the franchise now is in question. So, yeah, if you’re a veteran player, you start looking elsewhere where the grass might be greener. The different The difference though, Buxton’s a twin. Drafted, developed, came through. This is his organization. Carlos Cara wasn’t a twin. He’s a Astro. And so, yeah, but but Buckton is committed to this team and the direction. Yeah, but Greg, that’s my point. He is committed to the Twins, whatever direction we’re going. And this is the first time he’s back being himself. Look, for a guy to say, I don’t want to be traded, when every contending team in baseball would have loved to have Byron Bucks. You tell me the Mets wouldn’t had him. Tell me the Yankees wouldn’t have got him. You tell me the Dodgers wouldn’t get him. By the way, all that can happen. We’re about an hour and 45 minutes to go. Anything can happen. Hey, Steve Phillips, Joel Sherman, I want you to weigh in here, fellas. Steve, you know I’m talking about Kareah traded back to the Houston Astros. What do you think? Yeah. So, so here’s the thing. I had a conversation two spring trainings ago on my spring training tour with Sirius MLB Network Radio. I go into Twins camp and and Carlos Koreah pulled me aside in the dugout. He said, “You’re a baseball guy. I want to get your opinion about this. How about do you think a guy like me might be better served being a third baseman where my offense can play and I get off of shortstop. I can focus on that because remember the World Baseball Classic, Francisco Lindor played shortstop, Korea played third and Lindor and Korea ranked in the WBC and and he was talking about Brooks Lee maybe becoming the shortstop there in Minnesota. I actually think that Carlos Koreah welcomes the notion of going to third base because he thinks it’s gonna help his offensive game and I think he’ll accept that move I think pretty readily. I know he will accept the move. He signed a contract three years ago with the Mets to play third base next to Francisco Lindor for 11 years and then he failed the physical. So I know in the right situation and I’m sure he loves Jeremy Pñena. He probably helped train him at this point. He knows he could get off his feet and I understand why Carlos Koreah while in Minnesota has to say I never want to leave Minnesota but anybody who’s close to Carlos Koreah says Carlos Koreah wants to win championships and to make a late run at maybe the Hall of Fame even. He’s a big he think about how he plays in the postseason. He’s not going to get that shot in Minnesota. The owner in Houston loves him. Jim Craney tried to keep him. So he’s my thought is to protect his legs. He’s going to move to third base. I know he would play third base. He was going to do it. Yeah. Interesting. And he has the baseball IQ to be able to do it. He does. I know they love that in Minnesota. They loved him there. But this chance to go back home in in in Houston. A major move by the Astros. Yeah, Steve. Uh the Astros had to do something with the injury to Eso Parades. Uh John Rosie put this out. There’s Kareah has agreed to play third base in Houston. The source confirms. uh Jud is this is a guy that probably wouldn’t do this switch positions unless it was a perfect situation. This looks like the perfect situation for Carlos Korea. It does, Greg. And that that is the big news that for now to begin this second chapter of Koreah playing in Houston, he will begin playing at third base. And a lot of it is the context of the roster as we speak right now. Now we know Pes out for the season. Pñena on the injured list. This is what is needed right now. And and remember the Astros also acquired Urias to just give them some additional flexibility on the infield. They need healthy position players. And also to Joel’s point earlier, it is the likely best case for Koreah’s future development to move to a corner for the reasons that Steve mentioned as well. I I certainly understand the the idea and the desire for him to play shortep at the outset of his career, but it’s a very different circumstance right now and it’s my understanding that as a as a condition of this trade happening at all that Koreah had to give his word to the parties involved, yes, I will play third base. My information right now is that he has given that ascent and affirmation. He will be the third baseman of the Astros and he will get quite an ovation when he steps back to the plate at Dyken Park. I guess the question is will he be the shorts stop immediately cuz Pena is out so he’s not going to go play any short stop. My understanding is he will play third base. That that is what I’ve I’ve been told. Again, the lineup card belongs to Joe Espatada, but what I was told is that he has agreed to play third base. And when you think about it, Greg, it it certainly behooves everybody here for him to get comfortable at the position that’s going to be his long-term position in Houston. They have Dubon who can more than capably handle shortstop right now. And third base is where they clearly have a need. And remember too with Pedes, they could potentially move him to second base next year. They could have Elu play the outfield. But those are 2026 questions. The the the issue in front of us right now is 2025. And in 2025, Carlos Koreah has said he will play third base for the Houston Astros. I mean, this is how you start the show. Wow.