Carlos Correa returns to the Astros, where the dynamic ‘is completely different'

New York Times

2 days ago

BOSTON — Knox Bregman turned 3 years old Friday, but his parents threw a birthday party when most of their family and friends could celebrate. The Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox shared a mutual off day Thursday, bringing Bregman's past and present together on a thunderstorm-soaked afternoon in Massachusetts.
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Anything with the Bregmans must involve some baseball, so when the clouds cleared, two sets of fathers started throwing batting practice to their 3-year-old sons. Knox's left-handed swing is 'better than mine,' his father acknowledged. Lucas Hader can hold his own against his dad, but had one round of swings Thursday halted by an important announcement from his mother.
'Maria comes out and says 'We got Carlos,'' Josh Hader said with a smile.
Hader met Maria while he played alongside Carlos Correa at Houston's Double-A affiliate in Corpus Christi during the 2015 season. 'We had a squad, man,' Hader often says of a roster that also included Teoscar Hernandez, Joe Musgrove and Lance McCullers Jr.
All but McCullers and Correa were traded away with thoughts they'd never return. Hader did so on the largest free-agent contract of Jim Crane's ownership tenure. Thursday, Correa came back in the sort of trade Crane has become conditioned to constructing.
'I never thought this would happen or there was a chance for this to happen,' Correa said before hitting cleanup Friday evening at Fenway Park.
Correa's presence in the visiting clubhouse completed one of the wildest 48 hours in the history of this franchise. Longtime friend Jose Altuve had to text Correa after reports emerged of an agreed-upon trade. Once Correa confirmed it, 'I was real excited,' Altuve said.
'I don't have Twitter, so I was refreshing Instagram to see who we got and who we gave up. I stopped looking as soon as we got Correa,' utilityman Mauricio Dubón said.
Blockbusters can bring anything to a halt, be it batting practice at a birthday party or another dad's desire to finish 'The Bad Guys 2.' Joe Espada enjoyed the bit he saw, but soon felt the phone ringing in his pocket.
General manager Dana Brown promised to keep Espada, his second-year manager, abreast of the Astros' actions during a trade deadline that always included this possibility. Brown and his baseball operations team first called the Minnesota Twins to inquire about Correa on Wednesday.
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Before it, the baseball world did not even know Correa would be available at all. His contract contained a full no-trade clause. Friday, Correa acknowledged other players had reached out about waiving it 'to different teams.'
'I told them I was not going to waive it to those teams,' Correa said, 'And then when the Astros thing happened, obviously that was the only one place that I would have waived my no-trade clause.'
Discussions with Twins officials revealed a franchise headed in a direction Correa did not like. The team, which is still up for sale and in a two-year state of underachievement, traded 10 players off its 26-man roster Thursday.
None carried more shock than Correa, who will change positions, play third base and, according to Altuve, 'be our leader.'
We have made several roster moves today after yesterday's trade deadline: pic.twitter.com/foGFYhXOMp
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 1, 2025
'The dynamic in there is completely different right now,' Espada said, nodding over his shoulder toward the visiting clubhouse.
'He was so fired up. Happy to come home. He immediately started talking about winning. He immediately started talking about working at third base. He wants to know about some of the players, what they're like. He doesn't want to talk about himself. He wants to know who we have in our clubhouse, and how can he help win games. That's just who he is.'
Before boarding a Boston-bound airplane Wednesday afternoon, Espada hoped traveling with his two daughters, Eliana and Viviana, would calm his nerves on the busiest day of the baseball calendar. Bringing them to see an animated movie Thursday became another distraction tactic.
Doing so two hours before the trade deadline seemed like suspect scheduling, but the family persisted. Correa and Miami Marlins outfielder Jesús Sanchez both became Astros in the middle of 'The Bad Guys 2.' Espada never saw the ending.
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'I did not mind missing the movie,' Espada said.
Espada's injury-ravaged team treaded water in July and required reinforcements to complete its remarkable season. Brown and owner Jim Crane took notice, a fact Espada emphasized during a brief team meeting before Friday's game.
'It shows that they're willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship again. As a player, that's what you want,' Hader said.
'Just like us going out here and doing the right s— and doing things the right way, they see the effort and vice versa. We see their effort. We hope that we can put a good push and make it to the World Series, but nothing is guaranteed. That's the fun thing about this game.'
Blockbusters have become habitual for Hader. He's been a part of two himself. The first sent him out of Houston's organization. The second sent him to the San Diego Padres, perhaps the only franchise more aggressive than the Astros at each July's trade deadline. They built a behemoth in 2022 by acquiring Juan Soto for the stretch run.
That San Diego team did not win a World Series, something that still sticks in Hader's mind. Getting a second chance — after another seismic trade — is a gift.
'It's go time,' Dubón said. 'Who we have in this clubhouse is who we're going to go with into October, possibly the World Series. It's uplifting having new faces and everything. It's going to recharge everybody and try to go out there and win every year.'