Who is the biggest free agent the Giants have ever signed? It’ll likely always be Barry Bonds. But signing star shortstop Carlos Correa comes awfully close.
Correa reached a Giants-record $350 million deal on Tuesday night to be the face of the franchise for the next 13 seasons, more than doubling the $159 million, eight-year contract extension Buster Posey got in 2013.
The 28-year-old former Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins star is a two-time All-Star and was one of the Big Three free agents this winter along with Aaron Judge and Trea Turner.
The Giants, of course, saw Judge turn down their reported $360 million, 10-year offer to return to the Yankees. But the Giants’ consolation prize is a middle infielder in his prime who can make a difference with his bat and his glove.
Correa is a rare high-profile Giants free-agent signing, and expectations are already through the roof that his presence will help boost sagging fan interest and get the team back to the playoffs.
Here’s a look at how some of the Giants’ biggest free-agent signings over the years have played out. (The list doesn’t include extensions or deals that kept free agents with the team, so players like Posey, Hunter Pence, Jason Schmidt and Darrell Evans are not included.)
Barry Bonds (1993)Contract: $43.75 million, six yearsAge upon signing: 28First-season WAR (according to baseballreference.com): 9.9Team plus-minus from the previous season: +31 winsGiants career WAR: 112.5
The Giants brought home the Serra Hight grad with a then-record deal and Bonds delivered immediately. He homered in his first home at-bat as a Giant and 15 years later had the single-season and career home run records and attained legendary status in San Francisco. He was the NL MVP in 1993 after almost single-handedly helping the Giants improve 31 games from the previous season. But despite 103 wins, the Giants missed the playoffs by one game that season. Bonds, who like Correa was 28 during his first season with the Giants, won five MVP awards and hit 586 of his 762 career home runs in orange and black.
Johnny Cueto (2016)Contract: $130 million, six yearsAge: 30First-season WAR: 5.5Team plus-minus from the previous season:+3 winsGiants career WAR: 9.8
Cueto, always entertaining with his long dreadlocks and mound shimmies, was an instant success by the bay, winning 18 games with a 2.79 ERA, starting the All-Star Game and helping get the Giants back to the NLDS. He was effective when healthy, but he missed significant parts of three seasons with various ailments and required Tommy John surgery in 2018. The team bought out the option on the final year of the deal before last season.
Carlos Rodón (2022)Contract: $44 million, two yearsAge: 29First-season WAR: 5.4Team plus-minus from the previous season: -22 winsGiants career WAR: 5.4 (opted out after one season)
With Correa signed, Rodón is now the biggest name still on the market and there’s still a chance of a reunion with the Giants. The left-hander teamed with Logan Webb to create as formidable a 1-2 punch as there is in baseball, finishing with a 2.88 ERA and leading the majors with nearly 12 strikeouts per nine innings. But that still couldn’t help the team avoid a disappointing .500 finish a year after winning a franchise-record 107 games.
Barry Zito (2007)Contract: $126 million, seven yearsAge: 29First-season WAR: 2.0Team plus-minus from the previous season: -5 winsGiants career WAR: 2.4
Zito came across the bay from the A’s after landing the then-largest contract ever given to a pitcher, and his modest success with the Giants was forever tied to the massive salary and expectations. Zito had double-digit wins in four of his seven seasons – including the first three – but also lost 80 games. He was left off the postseason roster during the Giants’ World Series run in 2010, but two years later won 15 games and played a big role in their second title during that era, going 2–0 with a 1.69 ERA in three playoff starts, including a win over Justin Verlander and the Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series.
Ray Durham (2003)Contract: $20.1 million, three yearsAge: 31First-season WAR: 3.2Team plus-minus from the previous season: +5 winsGiants career WAR: 10.5
The former White Sox and A’s second baseman had the difficult task of replacing Jeff Kent. He was productive in the leadoff spot, producing a slash line of .285/.366/.441, and in his first season helped the Giants to their first 100-win season in a decade and the NLDS. Durham hit at least .280 in four of the next five seasons, but he was gone by the time the Giants returned to the playoffs in 2010.
Rennie Stennett (1980)Contract: $3 million, five yearsAge: 31First-season WAR: -0.8Team plus-minus from the previous season: +4 winsGiants career WAR: -0.7
Stennett, who died in 2021, was the Giants’ first high-priced signing but he was often the target of boos by the fans at Candlestick Park during a tenure cut short in large part because of injuries. The deal for the former Pirates star was considered big money at the time – the Yankees’ Reggie Jackson had a nearly-identical salary – but he batted just .244 in his Giants debut and .230 during the strike-shortened 1981 before he was out of baseball.
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While we’re talking Giants free agents, here’s a look at a few of their “bargains” that paid off.
Brett Butler (1988)Contract: $1.8 million, two yearsAge: 31First-season WAR: 6.8Team plus-minus from the previous season: -7 winsGiants career WAR: 13.7The veteran outfielder replaced the popular Chili Davis in center field and was arguably the best leadoff man in the National League (and a great glove) for his three seasons with the Giants. His play in 1988 earned a two-year extension, which paid off in a big way when he played a key role in the Giants reaching the 1989 World Series. But he was a Dodger by 1991, lost as a free agent to a $10 million, three-year deal.
Joe Morgan (1981)Contract: $250,000, one yearAge: 37First-season WAR: 2.1Team plus-minus from the previous season: Strike-shortened season. The Giants finished one game over .500 after being 11 under in 1980.Giants career WAR: 7.2
The two-time NL MVP and vital cog in the Big Red Machine of the 1970s still had something left in the tank when Castlemont High and Oakland City College star returned to the Bay. He showed enough during the strike-shorted 1981 season that the Giants doubled his salary for 1982, when he hit .289 and, in one of the Future Hall of Famer’s final acts as a Giant, hit a go-ahead home run on the final day of the season to prevent the Dodgers from winning the NL West.
Aubrey Huff (2010)Contract: $3 million, one yearAge: 33First-season WAR: 5.7Team plus-minus from the previous season: +6Giants career WAR: 5.6
The veteran was coming off the worst season of his career and was the Giants’ third or fourth (at best) option after higher-profile free-agent first basemen such as Adam LaRoche and Nick Johnson signed elsewhere. But Huff helped anchor the heart of the order for the first San Francisco team to win a World Series, hitting .296 and with a team-leading 26 home runs and 86 RBIs.
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