Correa to opt out of contract with Twins and enter free agency

Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa will exercise an opt-out clause in his contract and test the free agent market for a second straight year.

Correa signed a three-year, $105 million deal with the Twins in March that included player options for both 2022 and 2023.

The 28-year-old, who spent his first seven MLB seasons with the Houston Astros, will enter a potentially stellar free-agent class after a strong first season in Minnesota in which he batted .291 with 22 home runs, 64 RBIs and a .366 on base percentage in 136 games.

"With the year that I have had, my health and my being at the best moment of my career at 28, that is the right decision," Correa told El Nuevo Dia newspaper.

Correa's decision was expected after the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year was unable to secure a longer-term contract during an uncertain 2021-22 offseason impacted by a labour dispute between MLB owners and players that lasted into March.

He agreed to join the Twins shortly after the end of the lockout after the team offered the attractive opt-out clauses.

"I have been in this business for a long time, and I know that things do not always go the way one wants them to," Correa said about his previous experience with free agency.

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The two-time All-Star figures to have plenty of competition in an offseason market headlined by New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, and that is also expected to include frontline starting pitchers Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander.

Correa will also be one of a number of high-calibre available shortstops, with the Los Angeles Dodgers' Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves' Dansby Swanson also set to hit free agency.

In addition to his relatively young age, Correa will also have the benefit of not being eligible to receive a qualifying offer from the Twins that would have required other teams to surrender draft pick compensation to sign him.

Correa said he would certainly consider returning to the Twins, who were tied for the AL Central lead on September 4 before struggling down the stretch and finishing 78-84.

"I have a good relationship with Minnesota," he said. "I am very interested in being able to return."