With Carlos Correa off the board, Dansby Swanson is the last of the big-name free-agent shortstops still available, with several teams still looking for their next shortstop. This puts Swanson in the enviable position of being able to command the best offer possible.
Even before Correa signed, Swanson’s market was starting to develop and heat up.
The Giants are presumably out on Swanson now that they have Correa — they’re not the Padres, after all, so they don’t need a thousand shortstops — but that still leaves the Dodgers, Twins, Cubs, Red Sox, and Braves among his suitors. The Twins and Cubs had been in on Correa, and the Red Sox and Braves both had their big-name shortstops hit free agency this offseason (Atlanta with Swanson, and Boston with Xander Bogaerts, who signed with San Diego last week). The Dodgers, of course, also lost their shortstop in free agency for the second straight offseason, losing Trea Turner to the Phillies a year after losing Corey Seager to the Rangers.
Swanson’s market will be interesting. As the last shortstop standing, he will hope to drive a bidding war for his services, which could drive up his price. On the other hand, he’s clearly the fourth-best of the big four, and while the other three all got extremely long contracts, the average annual value for all three was relatively light, with none even reaching $28 million per year.
Will Swanson end up with a shorter contract with a higher AAV? Or will he be able to leverage the other three deals into a long, lucrative contract for himself? If it’s the former, Los Angeles could be a real player for him.
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