Outside The Confines: Right back where we started from

Now I’ve got that earworm in your head. So I’m not alone anymore.

• While I’m still not completely sure he’s not just punking us and that he’s going to sign with someone else in two weeks, the Minnesota Twins officially introduced their once-and-future shortstop, Carlos Correa. Correa offered his thoughts on the whole process and how he learned that one doctor can think one thing and another can think something completely different.
• Ken Rosenthal recaps the wild saga about Correa this off-season and how he ended up back with the Twins. (The Athletic sub. req.) Rosenthal also asks people in the game what Correa and his agent, Scott Boras, should have done differently. If anything.
• Dan Hayes tells of how Byron Buxton lobbied Correa to return to Minnesota. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Dayn Perry still has questions about the whole Correa situation. And he tries to answer some of them.
• Giants president Farhan Zaidi spoke to the media about his team’s role in the entire saga. While Zaidi was limited in what he could say, he did say that the Giants did check back in with Scott Boras about Correa after things started to fall apart with the Mets.
• Matt Martell thinks the Twins still have to add more players this offseason.
• Michael Baumann examines how the Mets and Giants will manage without Correa.
• Manny Randhawa has twelve other blockbuster deals that fell apart in MLB history. Although in fairness, no one at the time would have thought that a “Felix Fermin for Mariano Rivera” trade after the 1995 season would have been a blockbuster.
• There was a trade yesterday that no one would think is a blockbuster, but it could be a consequential one this year. The Marlins traded infielder Miguel Rojas to the Dodgers in exchange for minor league infielder Jacob Amaya.
• Alex Eisert is puzzled by the Dodgers move. While the Dodgers could use a middle infielder like Rojas, the deal will make it very difficult for Los Angeles to be under the competitive balance tax threshold for 2023, which seemed to be the point of their offseason.
• The Padres have signed veteran slugger Nelson Cruz to a one-year, $1 million deal.
• Chris Gilligan looks at what the Padres can expect out of Cruz.
• Jen McCaffrey and Chad Jennings has the inside story the the negotiations that led to third baseman Rafael Devers signing a long-term extension with the Red Sox.
• R.J. Anderson has some possibilities for the Red Sox to replace injured shortstop Trevor Story.
• The Orioles acquired left-handed reliever Darwinzon Hernandez from the Red Sox for “cash considerations.”
• Kiley McDaniel has the biggest winners and losers of the offseason. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Dayn Perry grades every team’s off-season.
• Here’s news that a lot of you are excited about. Every Triple-A ballpark this season will have the ABS (Automatic Ball And Strike) system installed this year. Half the teams will be using it for every call and half will be using a challenge system. Al will have more on this at 9 a.m. CT.
• The Tigers are once again shortening the outfield dimensions of Comerica Park.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians are “reimagining” Progressive Field:

• Jonathan Mayo polled MLB executives and asked “Who has the best farm system in the game right now?”
• David Adler has the most “interesting” player projections for the 2023 season.
• Ben Clemens examines a very interesting question: Assuming their on-base percentage and slugging percentage were identical, does it make a difference if a team has a high batting average or not?
• Dylan Hernández notes that the Dodgers’ owners and front office are still avoiding questions and responsibility for their role in the Trevor Bauer situation.
• The international signing period starts on Sunday. Maria Torres answers frequently asked questions about the process. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• The best international signing for each team from the past ten years. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Chelsea Janes and Barry Svrluga report that the Nationals are not close to being sold. Instead, the Lerner family may look to bring in a minority investor.
• Jesse Yomtov examines left-hander Andy Pettitte’s case for the Hall of Fame.
• I thought the current collective bargaining agreement was supposed to put an end to this?

• And finally, Matt Monagan looks at the time Chicago White Stockings star Jimmy Ryan hit a home run 3,300 miles across the Atlantic. It probably didn’t actually happen, but as MLB historian John Thorne says in the article, “That fact is too good to check.”

For those who still have that song stuck in your head: