by The Twins recently spoke with dansby swanson via videoconference, reports Aaron Gleeman from Athletic. They’re one of a handful of teams in contention with the Brave for a long time, who is one of the top three shortstops remaining in free agency.
Minnesota is one of the few teams that has been involved in the market. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports that the Cubs, Cardinals and Red Sox have joined the Twins in showing significant interest this offseason (Twitter link). The starting Braves have also publicly stated that they would like to keep Swanson.
There’s still quite a bit of uncertainty in Swanson’s market, as he’s not Minnesota’s or Boston’s primary target. The Twins continue to prioritize carlos correa, although there is also the possibility that a bigger spender will outbid them. Dodgers reportedly not interested in Correa, but Giants are shaping up to be a big threat after missing out aaron judge. San Francisco still has plenty of spending power after Judge turned down his offer in the $360MM range, and Correa has reportedly been their favorite of the top-tier shortstops available. The Twins have been linked to both Bogaerts and now Swanson as potential fallback options should they lose the offer for Correa.
Swanson is surely a secondary option for the Red Sox, too. Boston director of baseball Chaim Bloom has called Bogaerts his top priority on several occasions, and reports this morning suggested there was growing momentum in talks between the Red Sox and their longtime shortstop. Until there’s a deal, the Red Sox are a viable option for Swanson. If they retain Bogaerts, he would pair up with Trevor’s Story in the middle of the infield and almost certainly rules out a Swanson pickup.
It seems unlikely that the Cardinals will remain at the top of the shortstop market in the future. St. Louis agreed to terms with top free agent backer willson contreras this morning. Obviously, that doesn’t present a positional logjam for Swanson, but it does add a reported five-year, $87.5MM contract to the books. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch He suggested Earlier this week, the Cards were unlikely to go after the best shortstops unless they acquired their catcher more cheaply via trade. It seems likely that a major free agent deal for Contreras will leave the Cards to rely on. tommy edman and some combination of Brendan Donovan Y Nolan Gorman to the middle.
The Cubs are a better fit for Swanson. They’re not trying to lock down an inside free agent shortstop like Minnesota and Boston are. chicago has Nico Hoerner as a staple of the franchise, but has already expressed a willingness to move to second base to accommodate a major acquisition. The Cubs have already met with Correa, Bogaerts and Swanson and could make sense for any of that trio. However, with the great interest that Correa and Bogaerts are apparently drawing from other clubs, the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote this afternoon that the Cubs view Swanson as a more realistic target.
Swanson is going to strike a major deal in his own right, of course. He won the National League Gold Glove Award at shortstop in 2022, coming off arguably the best offensive season of his career. The 28-year-old (29 in February) hit .277/.329/.447 with 25 home runs while hitting out in all 162 games. He made the obvious decision to turn down a qualifying offer, meaning any signing team would have to give up a draft pick to bring him in. MLBTR predicted that Swanson would land a seven-year, $154 million contract in the offseason opener.
