Tag Archives: Isaac Paredes

Carlos Correa Returning to Houston Astros

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Carlos Correa is preparing for an astronomical return…

The Houston Astros have reacquired the 30-year-old Puerto Rican professional baseball in a shocking blockbuster deal with the Minnesota Twins just before the MLB trade deadline Thursday.

Carlos Correa Correa, a Rookie of the Year and a two-time MLB All-Star in his prior stint with the Astros, waived his no-trade clause in order to make the deal happen.

He has also agreed to play third base, sharing the left side of the infield with Jeremy Pena.

“I had some conversations with the front office in Minnesota, and we were not moving [the direction] I thought we were after making the playoffs [in 2023],” Correa told MLB.com on Thursday, “and they agreed with me that it was time to move me.

“I let them know there was only one team I would allow that to happen.”

The Astros went into the trade deadline prioritizing a left-handed hitter and a starter, but third baseman Isaac Paredes could miss the rest of the season with a serious hamstring injury, prompting them to get aggressive in a trade for Correa.

Moments later, their need for a left-handed hitter was also filled — in a deal to acquire outfielder Jesus Sanchez from the Miami Marlins.

The trade amounted to a salary dump, with the Twins, up for sale since last October, clearly motivated to shed financial obligations during the trade deadline. The Twins agreed to take on only $33 million of the remaining $104 million owed to Correa through 2028 and thus did not get much prospect capital in return for one of the sport’s most recognizable players. Matt Mikulski, a 26-year-old lefty who is still in A ball, went from the Astros’ system to the Twins’.

The Marlins received shortstop Chase Jaworsky, a top-10 prospect in the Astros’ system, as well as minor league outfielder Esmil Valencia and major league right-hander Ryan Guston in exchange for Sanchez.

A former No. 1 pick out of high school in Puerto Rico in 2012, Correa was one of the faces of an Astros team that won the World Series in 2017 and became the most successful American League franchise in recent years.

This year, though, Correa’s numbers are down. He is slashing .267/.319/.386 with seven home runs in 93 games.

“This is a big move for the team, for the city, for where we’re going in the future,” Houston general manager Dana Brown said. “We feel like … he’s just going to bring a lot, not only as a player but as a human being — his leadership skills and the energy that he’s going to bring to this club. So I’m fired up.”

This will be Correa’s first time playing third base in the majors, but he told MLB.com it’s something he had been looking forward to.

“I’ve been wanting to play third base for the past couple of years, but it wasn’t happening in Minnesota,” Correa said. “We were waiting for a shortstop to come in, and now that I get to play third base it would be great for me at this stage of my career.”

Sanchez, 27, has slashed .246/.312/.432 with 69 homers and 29 steals in 522 games with the Marlins from 2021 to 2025, during which he played mostly right field. He is controllable through 2027.

Tampa Bay Rays Trade Isaac Paredes to Chicago Cubs

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Isaac Paredes is headed to The Windy City.

The 25-year-old Mexican professional baseball third baseman and MLB All-Star is being traded by the Tampa Bay Rays to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Christopher Morel, a 25-year-old Dominican fellow third baseman, per ESPN.

Isaac Paredes The Cubs are also sending two prospects — pitchers Ty Johnson and Hunter Bigge — to the Rays in the deal, sources told ESPN.

Paredes immediately will step in as the Cubs’ starting third baseman, as the team has been searching for an answer at that position since moving on from Kris Bryant in 2021.

Morel has played there this season with varying degrees of improvement on defense, but his offensive output stalled somewhat after a promising first two years of his career.

After hitting .247 with 26 homers last season, Morel is hitting .199 with a team leading 18 home runs this season.

Paredes, who is hitting .247 with 16 home runs and 19 doubles this season, was originally signed by the Cubs but never played for them as he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in a 2017 deadline deal.

Both players are under team control for several more seasons before reaching free agency.

Bigge just made his MLB debut this month after being drafted in the 12th round in 2019. Johnson was taken in the 15th round of the 2023 draft and has been pitching at the Class-A level this season.

Both teams are in transition mode. The Rays have made several deals ahead of the trade deadline, shipping out reliever Jason Adam on Sunday as well as Randy Arozarena and Zach Eflin earlier in the week.

The Cubs, who began Sunday in last place in the NL Central, acquired reliever Nate Pearson on Saturday, vowing to rework their roster with future years in mind.

Yandy Díaz Helps Team Extend the Tampa Bays Rays Season-Opening Win Streak to 11

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Yandy Díaz and his Tampa Bay Rays teammates are inching closer to Major League Baseball history.

The Cuban-born professional baseball infielder and his Rays team members have run their season-opening win streak to 11 games, moving closer to history by defeating the Boston Red Sox 7-2 on Tuesday night.

Yandy DíazDíaz and Brandon Lowe hit back-to-back solo shots with two out in the fifth inning. Lowe extended his homer streak to four straight games.

Isaac Paredes and Josh Lowe also connected for the Rays, and Shane McClanahan (3-0) struck out nine while pitching five-plus innings of one-run ball.

“This team is having a lot of fun right now, we’re doing what we need to do every single night,” Josh Lowe said in his postgame, on-field interview. “We’re just going to keep it rolling as long as we can.”

The 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and the 1982 Atlanta Braves share the MLB record for the best start to a season at 13-0. The Rays are closing in.

“We’re just getting good pitches to hit. That’s all, really,” Josh Lowe said. “We’ve all worked really hard to get to this point that we’re at right now. We’re keeping it simple, and staying within ourselves. … We’re doing our job.”

The four homers brought Tampa Bay’s total to 29, matching the major league record through 11 games set by the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals. It was the Rays’ third four-homer game of the young season.

“It’s unbelievable. Everyone kind of wrote us off about our offense,” McClanahan said. “But we believe in these guys, and they are showing why we believe in them. It’s been awesome.”

Boston’s Alex Cora has watched his club produce just three runs in this series, and that was after the Rays posted back-to-back shutouts of the Oakland Athletics. But the manager has been impressed with Tampa Bay’s offense, as well.

“They’re playing good baseball right now. They did a few things offensively that they have cleaned up compared to last year, their approach is a lot different,” Cora said. “They’re putting good swings on good pitches and hitting the ball out of the ballpark.”