Snap Stories

The San Francisco Giants may have wanted Aaron Judge, but Carlos Correa was always the guy they needed.

Bully for them, then, that Correa's the guy they got. As ESPN's Jeff Passan was first to report late Tuesday night, the Giants came to terms with the decorated shortstop on a 13-year contract that will pay out $350 million.

Breaking: Carlos Correa agrees to a 13-year, $350M deal with the Giants, per @JeffPassan 💰 @BRWalkoff pic.twitter.com/n9qFIDUUp6

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 14, 2022

In contrast to the opt-out-laden deal that Correa signed with the Minnesota Twins in March, this one's pretty much for life. Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the 28-year-old's pact with the Giants features full no-trade protection and no opt-outs. He's locked in to play in the Bay Area through his age-40 season in 2035.

He'll certainly be well-compensated. The $350 million guarantee puts Correa at the high end of what he was reportedly seeking last winter, not to mention atop the heap among the highest paid shortstops in history.

If reports of their $360 million offer to Judge are accurate, the Giants have nonetheless saved money in pivoting to Correa after the reigning American League MVP returned to the New York Yankees. And that's just one way that that outcome was for the best.

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Aaron Judge Never Made Much Sense for the Giants

To be frank, the Giants' interest in Judge always smacked of corporate types saying, "Let's get this guy because he'll make us money," rather than baseball operations types saying, "Let's get this guy because he'll help us win games."

Joel Sherman of the New York Post indeed suggested as much in November, writing that the Giants' higher-ups craved a star who could draw 'em out like Barry Bonds used to in the early 2000s.

At least on paper, Judge was an ideal solution. A 6'7", 282-pound slugger fresh off hitting an American League-record 62 home runs, and from nearby Linden to boot? That's a draw, all right.

And yet, something a rival executive said to Heyman sums up how awkward of a fit Judge and the Giants were: "He's going to leave the greatest market to go across country to a team where it's hard to hit homers? Come on."

No disrespect to the awesome power in Judge's bat, but Yankee Stadium surely helped amplify his home run output. Oracle Park is not known to do such things, particularly for right-handed sluggers.

Besides, Judge is a guy with a concerning injury history who's pushing 31. Whoever signed him was going to be committing to a win-now window, which would have been an odd thing for the Giants to do on the heels of an 81-81 effort in 2022.

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Carlos Correa Makes Tons of Sense for the Giants

Signing Correa, on the other hand, isn't strictly a win-now move. It's much more one of the win-now-and-later variety.

Unless he's planning on putting on Michael Lorenzen-ian levels of bulk so he can also pursue home run history, Correa's ceiling doesn't go quite as high as Judge's. But you'd be hard-pressed to find a contemporary superstar with a higher floor, as it's not by accident that Correa has averaged 7.2 rWAR per 162 games throughout his eight MLB seasons.

As evidenced by his well-above-average 129 OPS+ and 18 career postseason home runs, the guy can hit no matter the time of year. The guy can also field, for which you can see his 70 defensive runs saved since 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYq_Rf5TFcI

Correa likewise boasts less quantifiable qualities, such as how he carries himself in the clubhouse. It's telling how strong of an impression he made on his fellow Twins despite only being with them for a few months.

"[Correa] studies players; he studies the game," Nick Gordon told Dan Hayes of The Athletic. "It's the type of player you are, the type of player you want to be, things like that. Potential. He can just see. He sees. He's got an eye for the game. It can be anything, baseball, non-baseball, whatever. It really doesn't matter."

This is a guy the Giants can build around, even if it involves shifting Brandon Crawford to third base in the near term and perhaps Correa himself there in the long term. He's young enough that the Giants should still have years before they have to worry about that. And once they do, they'll need not worry about whether his arm will play at the hot corner.

What's more, Correa didn't cost the Giants any draft picks, as he was ineligible for a qualifying offer, and the structure of his contract is surely conducive to team-building. His $26.9 million average annual value is far short of the $40 million per year Judge got.

That's advantageous in many ways, but particularly as it relates to AAV-driven luxury-tax calculations.

The extra flexibility could come in handy in any number of ways, be they unforeseeable or very much seeable. For instance, potential runs at Rafael Devers or Shohei Ohtani on next winter's free-agent market look that much more feasible.

As for whether Correa himself will be good for business, the Giants don't need him to be. They're getting more than $100 million per year just from TV deals, or enough for basically four Correas.

But if he does boost ticket sales, well, it wouldn't be for the first time:

The Twins have sold more than 100,000 single-game, group tickets and Twins Passes since the news of Carlos Correa's signing broke.

— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) March 23, 2022

If this particular brand of history repeats itself, it may not be simply because Giants fans also want to turn out for a guy whose credentials include a Rookie of the Year, two All-Star nods, a Gold Glove and a World Series ring.

Correa figures to be that much more of a draw when the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town, as the very real hate they have for him down there is all the more reason for Giants fans to have his back.

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Are the Giants a Contender Now, Though?

It's all well and good that the Giants have made a sensible long-term gamble on Correa, but the question remains: Does he put them over the hump in the here and now?

If it were just him, no way. But it's not just him, as the Giants had been loading up their offense and pitching even before they agreed to write a $350 million check:

The Giants are all of a sudden having a huge offseason: Carlos Correa, Joc Pederson, Mitch Haniger, Ross Stripling, Sean Manaea. They are still looking for bullpen help, but the heavy lifting is done.

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) December 14, 2022

Though the absence of ace left-hander Carlos Rodón—who pitched to a 2.88 ERA over 178 innings for the Giants in 2022—still looms large, that's a good haul that has the Giants looking that much better in relation to National League rivals.

FanGraphs, for example, gives them the eighth-highest WAR projection of any NL team for 2023. Not great but seemingly within the margin of error for a pursuit of the league's three wild-card berths.

This is also assuming that the Giants are done shopping, and they might not be. They have about $26.7 million worth of breathing room between them and the first luxury-tax threshold for 2023. That's plenty to accommodate the club's remaining needs, such as a proper center fielder and a late-inning arm.

To squeeze this long story down into a short one: The Giants look a heck of a lot better than they did at the end of the '22 season. Their new shortstop is but one reason.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

Xavier head coach Sean Miller won't face any sanctions from the NCAA's investigation into alleged recruiting violations during his time at the University of Arizona.

Per Jeff Goodman of Stadium, Miller will not be subject to NCAA discipline based on the Independent Accountability Resolution Process' ruling.

Goodman did note that Book Richardson received a 10-year show-cause penalty and Mark Phelps received a two-year show-cause penalty. Both men were assistant coaches on Miller's staff with the Wildcats.

A majority of the penalties received by the University of Arizona were self-imposed, including its one-year postseason ban during the 2020-21 season, loss of one scholarship for the 2023-24 academic year and a $5,000 fine plus one percent of the average men's basketball budget based on the average of the previous three budgets.

Just in: Here are all of Arizona's penalties, per the IARP.

All told: minimal punishment.

Every school that has gone the IARP route has gotten off lightly. It's proven to be the wise strategy. Remember, Arizona also previously had a self-imposed postseason ban. pic.twitter.com/CzNFGpDVY7

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) December 14, 2022

The only new discipline imposed by the IARP was a seven-week recruiting communication ban for the 2022-23 academic year.

Richardson was sentenced to three months in prison and two years of supervised probation in June 2019 after pleading guilty to a bribery charge.

Former assistants Tony Bland (USC) and Lamont Evans (Oklahoma State) also reached plea deals with federal prosecutors. All three men accepted bribes to steer players toward agents and financial advisors.

Former Adidas executives James Gatto, Merl Code and business manager Christian Dawkins also received prison sentences on wire fraud charges.

Miller was initially expected to testify during the trial, but United States District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled in April 2019 the question of whether or not Miller paid his players was "irrelevant" to the case involving Richardson.

The University of Arizona fired Miller in April 2021, with athletic director Dave Heeke saying in a statement they were "evaluating the overall position of the program, and that includes on-court and off-court elements."

After sitting out the 2021-22 season, Miller was hired at Xavier in March. He returned to the school after previously serving as head coach for the Musketeers from 2004 to 2009.

Lovie Smith could wind up being one-and-done as Houston Texans head coach.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported Smith is currently on "shaky ground" amid the team's 1-11-1 start.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is reportedly among the names that would be atop Texans general manager Nick Caserio's list of candidates. Gannon interviewed for the position after the Texans fired David Culley last offseason.

Smith was a surprise hire given the fact he was the defensive coordinator for an underperforming Texans team last season. Promoting from within a staff of a fired head coach is always going to raise some eyebrows, especially so in this case because it was not a situation where Culley was fired midway through 2021 and Smith turned the team around as an interim coach.

Smith had previous experience coaching the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers but hadn't had success in a decade. Even his jaunt to the college ranks at Illinois featured five straight losing seasons and a 17-39 record.

All of which is to say it's perfectly understandable that the Texans might want to move on.

That said, the optics in this particular situation would be awful. During a period of time the NFL is being sued for discriminatory hiring practices, the Texans would be firing its second Black head coach in as many seasons after only giving him one year to turn things around.

Culley was thrust into a situation where he was taking over a 4-12 team that lost Deshaun Watson as he sat out the entire 2021 season amid sexual misconduct allegations. Houston still managed to win four games and played competitive football, but Caserio fired him anyway.

Smith was saddled with by far the NFL's worst roster—one seemingly designed to land the Texans the top pick in the 2023 draft—and the team has performed to its talent level.

While Gannon is one of the best assistant coaches in the NFL and deserving of a head-coaching job, the Texans would be opening themselves up to fair scrutiny by hiring a white coach precisely at the time the organization's fortunes could start turning around.

John Njue Kibue died Tuesday after falling three days earlier while on security duty for the men's World Cup at Lusail Stadium in Qatar, per Larry Madowo and Chris Eldergill of CNN.

He was 24 years old and had travelled to Qatar from Kenya for work.

Madowo and Eldergill noted a medical certificate revealed he suffered a "severe head injury, facial fractures and pelvic fractures."

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which organized the World Cup, released the following statement: "We regret to announce that, despite the efforts of his medical team, he sadly passed away in hospital on Tuesday 13 December, after being in the intensive care unit for three days."

However, Kibue's family said it is still waiting for an explanation about what happened.

"We don't have the money to get justice for him, but we want to know what happened," his sister Ann Wanjiru said. " … We want justice. We want to know what caused his death. They have never sent us a picture to show where he fell from or given us any other information."

The Kenyan embassy in Qatar told CNN it is "undertaking necessary consular assistance whilst awaiting official communication from Qatar's Supreme Committee and competent authorities."

The safety of migrant workers has been a significant concern surrounding this World Cup.

Kibue is the second migrant worker to have been confirmed as dead since the event started, and Sammy Mngqosini of CNN noted World Cup chief Hassan Al-Thawadi told Piers Morgan of TalkTV on Monday that there have been between 400 and 500 migrant worker deaths due to projects connected to the World Cup.

His comments came after a report from the Guardian suggesting 6,500 migrant workers died since the preparations began after Qatar was given the World Cup in 2010.

A Qatari government official told CNN, "The 6,500 figure takes the number of all foreign worker deaths in the country over a 10-year period and attributes it to the World Cup. This is not true and neglects all other causes of death including illness, old age and traffic accidents. It also fails to recognize that only 20 percent of foreign workers in Qatar are employed on construction sites."

The producers of Netflix's popular Drive to Survive series providing a behind-the-scenes look at Formula 1 racing are taking their talents to another sport.

Netflix released a trailer for its Break Point series, which is made by the same producers as the F1 series and will focus on tennis. The docuseries debuts on Jan. 13 ahead of the 2023 Grand Slam season.

Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press noted the series' first five episodes will be released in January, while the next five will be released in June.

This will allow the show to focus on various tournaments, including the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

Nick Kyrgios, Iga Swiatek, Sloane Stephens, Frances Tiafoe, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and more were featured in the trailer.

Drive to Survive is largely credited with spreading the popularity of F1, especially in the United States. It remains to be seen if such an effect will happen with tennis given it was more established with a longer history, but fans will surely receive new perspectives about some of the game's biggest stars and rising names.

During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show this week, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers gave some more insight into how the use of ayahuasca has helped him.

When asked by former Packers teammate A.J. Hawk if he feared death, Rodgers admitted that he used to until ayahuasca aided in him getting over that fear:

That's a GREAT question @OfficialAJHawk...#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/MJBTwubFQv

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 13, 2022

Rodgers said that being a teenager during the Y2K hysteria of 1999 and 2000 contributed to his fear of dying due to the belief that he would never be able to accomplish all of his goals if he died young.

He continued by saying that consuming the psychoactive drink ayahuasca and the psychedelic drug psilocybin changed his perspective and "relieved a lot of the stress" associated with the need to accomplish things before death.

Rodgers also said he has "seen the other side" through the use of ayahuasca, which has caused him to view death as more of a "next chapter" than an ending.

Prior to the start of the 2022 NFL season, Rodgers revealed that he first used ayahuasca in 2020, which preceded back-to-back NFL MVP campaigns for the future Hall of Famer.

This season has been a much bigger struggle for Rodgers and the Packers, though, as they are 5-8 and have struggled to find consistency on offense compared to previous years.

Much of that likely has to do with the departure of Rodgers' No. 1 target, wide receiver Davante Adams, who was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders during the offseason.

Rodgers and the Packers are coming off a win over the Chicago Bears, though, and given how weak the NFC is, their playoff hopes are still alive.

Trade rumors involving the Los Angeles Lakers have been swirling throughout the first two months of the 2022-23 NBA season. At this point, it seems inevitable that the team will make at least one move prior to the trade deadline on Feb. 9.

The Lakers continue to get linked to various players from around the league. And recently, some of those rumors have featured Detroit Pistons guard Bojan Bogdanović.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Los Angeles has discussed the possibility of sending a protected first-round draft pick and some type of salary (such as Patrick Beverley) to Detroit in exchange for Bogdanović. That doesn't mean a trade is imminent, though.

"I think the holdup in that deal is that the Pistons really value Bojan Bogdanovic and they've been reluctant when they speak to other teams," Charania recently said on Bally Sports' The Rally. "Dozens of teams have called them already on Bojan Bogdanovic and they've been really reluctant to engage and even move him."

It's always possible that could change. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported that executives from around the league are "hopeful" the Pistons will change their stance. After all, they're in last place in the Eastern Conference at 7-22 and will be without guard Cade Cunningham for the rest of the season due to a left shin injury.

Scotto also shared that the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks are among the teams that have expressed interest in Bogdanović in addition to the Lakers. So it doesn't seem Los Angeles will be along in its pursuit of the 33-year-old forward.

So far, Bogdanović is having an impressive season, which is his first in Detroit. He's averaging a career-high 21 points through 28 games. And he's been efficient, shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 43.7 percent from 3-point range (both of which would be career bests).

The Lakers saw up close the type of success Bogdanović is having on Sunday, when he dropped 38 points in Detroit's loss to Los Angeles. It marked the third time this month that he's scored 30 or more points in a game.

Bogdanović seems like he'd be a great fit in Los Angeles, considering the Lakers need to add a wing player with a strong outside shooting ability. He would fill that role and be a great complementary piece to Los Angeles' core featuring LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook (assuming he doesn't get traded himself at some point).

It's a bit of a steep price for the Lakers to part with a first-round pick (they own only two for the rest of the decade) and Beverley, who has made 21 starts in their backcourt this season. But Bogdanović isn't set to become a free agent until after the 2024-25 season, so he's a player Los Angeles could build around the next few years as it tries to win another championship in the late stages of James' career.

Because of that, it would be wise for Los Angeles to try to bring in Bogdanović. In order for that to happen, Detroit will need to become more open to moving him. But there's still plenty of time for that to occur before the trade deadline.

The Lakers, who are 11-16 after losing four of their past five games, could use the boost that the addition of Bogdanović would bring to their lineup.

For the first time since his disastrous Week 11 outing, Zach Wilson will be in uniform for the New York Jets.

Jets head coach Robert Saleh announced Wilson will be the backup quarterback to Mike White for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions.

Following a 10-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Nov. 20, Wilson was benched in favor of White. The second overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft finished that game 9-of-22 for 77 yards.

Per ESPN's Rich Cimini, there were "raw feelings" among some Jets defensive players following the Patriots game because Wilson didn't seem to hold himself accountable for his role in the loss.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Wilson was asked if he felt like he let the defense down:

.@Connor_J_Hughes: "Do you feel like you let the defense down at all?"

Zach Wilson: "No." pic.twitter.com/tiJiTSrFPE

— Jets Videos (@snyjets) November 20, 2022

Wilson was having a bad season even before making the comment that may have ruffled some feathers in the locker room. He is completing 55.6 percent of his attempts for 1,279 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions in seven starts.

The Jets went 5-2 in those games because they were averaging 121.6 rushing yards per game, and the defense held opponents to 15.0 points per game during that stretch.

Wilson has been inactive for each of the past three games, with White taking over as the starter and Joe Flacco serving as the backup.

White suffered a rib injury after taking a hard hit from Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano in Sunday's 20-12 loss. He left the game briefly before returning and finished 27-of-44 for 268 yards.

The Jets had White get checked out at a Buffalo hospital after the game, but he was able to fly back to New York on the team plane. He told reporters on Monday his ribs feel fine.

White got off to a strong start with 315 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-22 win over the Chicago Bears in Week 12. He hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in the past two games, which were both losses.

New York enters Week 15 with a 7-6 record, tied with the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers for the final playoff spot in the AFC. The Patriots hold the tiebreaker over both teams for the No. 7 seed.

The New York Knicks reportedly won't trade Evan Fournier just to shed salary ahead of February's deadline.

"The Knicks are not interested in shedding salary going forward," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said on his podcast. "They'll do business, but I think there's been a concept that they might, like, attach a pick to get off of Evan Fournier or something like that. But to my understanding that's not true. I think they would trade Evan Fournier—I mean he's not playing for them right now, of course they would trade him. But I don't think they feel any sort of desperation to clear cap space."

Fournier has been featured in trade rumors in the early going this season, and Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Monday he could be a target for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The 30-year-old is making $18 million in base salary this season and is in line to make $18.9 million next season and $19 million in 2024-25 if his club option is exercised.

Still, a trade could help New York net some assets for someone who has fallen out of head coach Tom Thibodeau's rotation.

Fournier hasn't appeared in a contest since a Nov. 13 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and is in a similar position to Cam Reddish, who has also fallen out of the rotation and been the subject of some trade speculation.

The former is averaging 6.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 20 minutes per game. Prior to this season, he's averaged 14.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

Fournier has played for the Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics and Knicks throughout his career since entering the league in the 2012 NBA draft and averaged double-figure scoring totals in each of the last eight campaigns.

He is a career 38.0 percent shooter from deep and could help a contender looking for outside shooting if he is eventually traded. But the Knicks apparently won't complete such a move for the sole purpose of shedding his salary.