Outside The Confines: He’s the king in the North

There were a lot of free agent signing since Friday. In fact, Michael Conforto appears to be the only big free agent yet to sign. Tommy Pham hasn’t signed either, if you consider him major.

• The Minnesota Twins shocked the world by signing shortstop Carlos Correa to a three-year, $105.3 million deal. Correa has an opt out after each season, so it’s probably better characterized as a one-year deal with two player options.
• Ben Clemens looks at what the Twins can expect out of Correa and how much he improves Minnesota.
• Ben Lindbergh examines what Correa signing means with the Twins and for the rest of the league.
• Emma Baccellieri thinks the Twins and Correa are a perfect match, at least under this contract.
• Gabe Lacques says the Twins signing Correa proves that anything is possible in baseball, as long as you’re actually trying.
• David Schoenfield gives the Twins an A+ for the signing. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Dan Hayes reports that the Twins players were in shock about the deal. (The Athletic sub. req.) Happy shock, to be sure, and they are excited to have Correa on their team.
• His former teammate Jose Altuve was also surprised to see Correa leave the Astros. He was surprised in a bad way.
• Ken Rosenthal looks at why the Braves did not make an offer to Correa, and how Correa’s agent Scott Boras (potentially) maneuvered Correa into next year’s free agent class when the Braves and other teams might have more money available. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Rosenthal also writes that if the Twins are spending money and trying to win, there’s no excuse for any other team not to do the same. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Bob Nightengale looks at how Freddie Freeman ended up in Los Angeles and how he’s thrilled to be back in Southern California.
• R.J. Anderson looks at the Dodgers lineup now that they have Freddie Freeman in it.
• Zach Crizer notes that when the opportunity to add a player like Freeman becomes available, the Dodgers don’t miss the opportunity. That’s why the Dodgers are on a different level than other teams, Crizer argues.
• David Schoenfield compares the 2022 Dodgers lineup to the lineups in LA during their current run of excellence back to 2015. (ESPN+ sub. req.) Also to the lineup in “Homer at the Bat.”
• The Dodgers signed a Braves legend, so the Braves struck back and signed a Dodgers legend as they inked closer Kenley Jansen to a one-year, $16 million deal.
• Jansen explained to Jorge Castillo why he signed with Atlanta after his long career with the Dodgers. The Dodgers told him to wait to sign until they could clear some payroll and Jansen didn’t want to wait.
• The Red Sox signed a big free agent as shortstop Trevor Story agreed to a six-year, $140 million deal with Boston on Sunday. Story has an opt-out clause after four years unless Boston agrees to add a seventh year . . . and it gets complicated.
• Red Sox players expressed their joy over the signing. Story will probably play second base for Boston.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at the pros and cons of the deal for Boston and grades the Red Sox at a B+. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• The Phillies added outfielder Nick Castellanos on a five-year, $100 year deal. Dan Szymborski thinks that it was a necessary overpay for the Phillies to add another star.
• Bradford Doolittle gives the Phillies a C+ on the Castellanos deal. (ESPN+ sub. req.) He agrees that Castellanos is a great hitter, but he doesn’t see how Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber fit on the same team. You know, I think I’ve seen that show before.
• Matt Gelb outlines what the Phillies were thinking in signing Castellanos. (The Athletic sub. req.) He’s got a lot more details than this, but basically they’re just going to try to outscore everyone.

Gelb writes:

The defense is going to be bad. Really bad. It’ll be the source of jokes and frustration and long nights. It will make some pitchers look worse than they are. It is how you, a Phillies fan, will be clowned on by your non-Phillies friends. If the Phillies can average more than five runs scored per game, something they have not done in a full season since 2009, it might just be something everyone laughs about. Maybe.

• Right-hander Zack Greinke is returning to the Royals on a one-year deal. Greinke explained why he wanted to come back to the team where he started his career.
• Jay Jaffe breaks down the Royals’ additions to their pitching staff and what they can expect out of Greinke this season.
• Bradford Doolittle bemoans the loss of the “one-team” player and how Greinke and Freeman should have spent their entire career with one team, even if leaving their original team made “baseball sense.” (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Soler Power is coming to Miami as outfielder Jorge Soler agreed to a three-year, $36 million deal with the Marlins.
• The Yankees traded first baseman Luke Voit to the Padres for prospects.
• The Cardinals will be without pitchers Jack Flaherty and Alex Reyes to start the season because of shoulder injuries.
• An inquiry into the 2019 shooting of Hall-of-Famer David Ortiz concluded that Ortiz was targeted by Dominican drug kingpin César Peralta, whom felt disrespected by Ortiz. Peralta is currently in custody in Puerto Rico on unrelated drug-trafficking charges.
• David Adler explains what makes Rays infielder Wander Franco so special and how he could be the breakout star of 2022.
• Mariners reliever Casey Sadler is having season-ending shoulder surgery.
• Sadler posted this on Twitter

• Will Leitch has a “reasonable” goal for all 30 teams in 2022.
• MLB is testing a system in Spring Training that allows pitchers and catchers to communicate electronically.
• Mets manager Buck Showalter and Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez spoke about their respective episodes of Seinfeld. Showalter threatened the Mets with cotton uniforms if the team doesn’t get off to a good start.
• Jim Allen reports on the Nippon Ham Fighters of NPB, who had announced that they had “non-tendered” several players over the winter. That’s what they did, but that American term is considered to be disrespectful to the players, so the Fighters agreed to not use that term again. I mean, they’re still going to non-tender players, they just will call it something else.
• Old friend alert. Here’s 44-year-old (almost 45) Kosuke Fukudome creaming a home run to right field for the Chunichi Dragons. I’d recognize that swing anywhere.

He’s Japan’s Julio Franco.

• And finally, there was a heartwarming scene in yesterday’s Nationals/Astros game as the Nationals surprised Astros manager Dusty Baker by sending out his son, Nats minor leaguer Darren Baker, to take the lineup card out to the umpires. Darren also went 1 for 1 with the game-winning sac fly. Jessica Camerato and Jesse McTaggert also get Darren and Dusty’s reaction to the moment.

Here’s the actual video of the lineup exchange.

Yeah, baseball!

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.