LA Angels: 2 disadvantages, 1 advantage to signing Carlos Correa

The LA Angels are in an interesting spot when it comes to shortstop as we get closer to the offseason.

They could re-sign Jose Iglesias, or go after another shortstop in free agency or perhaps through the trade market. Remember, we have money. Arte Moreno is worth $3.6 billion, and we have some flexibility with how we approach this offseason.

Carlos Correa, who has been speculated to be on the outs with the Astros for a while now, has made it official. He won’t be back with Houston next year. There are two sides to the idea of acquiring him in the offseason.

No. 1 disadvantage for the LA Angels to sign Carlos Correa: He’s a cheater

Carlos Correa isn’t a high-character guy. Not only did he get hit with the biggest cheating scandal in sports history, but he was about as unapologetic as possible about it.

He famously cheated in the trash can sign stealing scandal, and then famously told Cody Bellinger to “shut the (expletive) up” when he simply acknowledged that the Astros weren’t the rightful owners of the World Series trophy.

There have been players from the Astros and Red Sox teams that cheated and went on to different teams without any clubhouse issues (Mookie Betts comes to mind), but Correa has handled the whole situation very poorly. I wouldn’t be surprised if he handled it very poorly when joining a different AL West clubhouse. He hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt.

No. 2 disadvantage for the LA Angels to sign Carlos Correa: Overrated offense

If the LA Angels signed Carlos Correa, they’d be signing a very overrated hitter.

Let me lay out his stats from 2017 to 2019 (the years where he knew what pitches were coming at the plate): A line of .278/.357/.502 with 60 home runs and 208 RBI in 294 games.

Well, a .278 batting average isn’t bad (especially for a shortstop), and that’s a solid on-base percentage and slugging percentage, but is it really? He knew what pitches were coming and still couldn’t hit above .280 and had an OPS under .900. Not to mention, an average of 20 home runs and about 69 RBI per season really is pretty discouraging when you know what pitches are coming.

In these past two years, without cheating, he of course has continued to really not be very impressive. He’s been hitting .273/.357/.449 in these last two seasons with 24 home runs and 193 RBI in 174 games. That’s very far from elite offensive production.

People talk about this guy like he’s a superstar in this league, and he’s realistically not. Iglesias has almost the same amount of All-Star selections as Correa since Correa came into the league. And again, that’s with three years of knowing what pitches are going to be thrown to him.

The Angels have a need at shortstop, but I really wouldn’t bother signing Correa.