Reports suggest that Swanson has multiple suitors on the free agent market.
Earlier this week we took a look at where things stand for the Atlanta Braves heading into the Winter Meetings which will get underway Sunday in San Diego. Today, we are going to take a look at the market for one of Atlanta’s big free agent targets in shortstop Dansby Swanson.
After turning in a career-best campaign in 2022, Swanson is among a group of four top line shortstops that also includes Trea Turner, Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts. While Turner and Correa appear to be the top of the group, multiple teams have shown interest in Swanson as well as a possible cheaper and safe fall back option.
The Chicago Cubs are the latest team to show interest in Swanson according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.
Sources: #Cubs and #Phillies among teams showing active interest in free agent Dansby Swanson, ahead of next week’s winter meetings in San Diego. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 3, 2022
Chicago is an interesting team given that Swanson’s fiancé Mallory Pugh is a forward for the Chicago Red Stars Soccer team. It is unclear if that would have any sway in Swanson’s decision, but is no doubt something that the Cubs are shopping as a benefit of signing.
There is no real indication of when the shortstop market might move. It would seem to be in Swanson’s best interest to wait out Turner and Correa’s decisions because teams that were unsuccessful, could shift their attention to him and widen his market. It still feels like that most of the major position player free agents will likely wait out Aaron Judge’s decision which could come soon.
Things have been pretty quiet between the Braves and Swanson since the offseason began. Previous reports suggest that Swanson rejected Atlanta’s initial offer that was in the $100 million range. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman recently cited “rumors” that Swanson’s camp made a $140 million counter offer to Atlanta that was rejected.
As Mark Bowman has pointed out multiple times this offseason, there is reason to believe that the Braves won’t have the most lucrative offer in the Swanson sweepstakes and that he might have to leave some money on the table if he wants to continue playing with his hometown team.
Perhaps we will get some clarity this week.
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