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The winter meetings are set to begin Sunday, but things are starting to heat up and we officially have the first report directly connecting the Cubs to free agent shortstop Dansby Swanson.
According to Jon Morosi, the Cubs and Phillies are actively showing interest in the 28-year-old.
Swanson has played his entire seven-year career with the Atlanta Braves and was a key contributor to their 2021 World Series winning team. Now, he’s looking to cash in and he couldn’t have picked a better time to have the best season of his career heading into free agency.
In 2022, Swanson was the best defensive shortstop and slashed .277/.329/.447, with 25 home runs and a 116 wRC+.
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The Cubs have been reportedly in the mix for the top-four free agent shortstops, recently named as one of Xander Bogaerts’ suitors by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. We also know that they had an offer prepared for Carlos Correa last offseason and there was a report earlier this year that they’d be interested in Trea Turner as well. However, Cubs fans have also been beaten over the head with the caveat that although the team is interested in signing one of the top shortstops, they are hesitant to offer any one of them a really long contract.
So, that’s why some observers believe Swanson, who is expected to sign the smallest deal from the big four shortstops, have picked the Cubs as his destination. A few days ago, Jon Heyman named the Cubs as the favorites to sign Swansn.
I’ll add one more thing when it comes to this latest bit of information from Morosi. This could be an attempt by the Cubs and Phillies to put pressure on the other shortstops. There was a lot of talk recently about the Phillies targeting Turner, while we’ve seen Morosi himself link Correa to the Cubs several times. So, maybe these two teams want the idea that they’re actually looking at the other guy to cause a reaction from the rest of the players who might be hesitant to sign first. You know, trying to drive down the price a bit.
If the Cubs do end up signing Swanson you’d have to think they’d still be aggressive to improve the offense. They were out-bid by the Astros for José Abreu and already need to replace the offense lost with the imminent departure of Willson Contreras. Swanson is a solid player and does make the Cubs better, but he’s not a guy a team can build around offensively. They need at least one more solid position player that can provide a boost on offense and that’s probably the case even if they sign one of the other higher ranked shortstops anyway.
Or who knows, maybe the Cubs pull a Rangers-type move by signing Swanson AND Bogaerts? One thing’s for sure, hot stove season is finally here!
So Cubs fans, Dansby Swanson?
And for more offseason talk make sure to check out the Pinwheels And Ivy Podcast.
If Houston can come out and sign two High profile players, being a smaller market team than the Cubs that’s a crying ass shame. Ricketts needs to sell the Cubs to somebody that’s interested in baseball and not wanting to buy a soccer team with the profits he makes off the Cubs and his Dad.