Atlanta Braves fans crossing their fingers for a reunion between the franchise and star shortstop Dansby Swanson in 2023 and beyond are having their hopes crushed by predictions of what is to come in free agency this offseason.
Dansby Swanson back with Atlanta Braves is not among several offseason predictions
After playing his first seven seasons with the Braves, Swanson enters free agency this winter as one of a banner group of shortstops (including Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, and Trea Turner) who are available to be signed by MLB teams. Swanson does have a qualifying offer attached to him, so any team other than Atlanta who signs him will have to forfeit a draft pick and potentially international pool money.
So if Swanson isn’t returning to Atlanta, where might he go? Our own Noah Yingling predicts that Swanson will land with the Chicago Cubs on a seven-year, $168 million deal. Yingling’s deal prediction is a little higher than the contract seen in the crystal ball by the writers at MLBTradeRumors.com, who see Swanson inking a seven-year, $154 million pact. Three of the four MLBTR writers join Yingling in predicting that Swanson will end up calling Wrigley Field home, while the fourth predicts Swanson to head to the Minnesota Twins, replacing Correa.
For those who aren’t predicting a Swanson-Atlanta reunion, they are also not predicting the Braves to sign a big-name shortstop out of the group to replace Swanson. That means that, under that scenario, they are foreseeing Vaughn Grissom likely moving to shortstop while Ozzie Albies maintains second base for the Braves.
However, if Atlanta fans need hope of a potential reunion with Swanson, they can look to the predictions made by MLB.com, which did pick Swanson to be back at Truist Park in 2023 and beyond. However, with the predictions made out of a conglomeration of picks by 50 MLB.com writers and analysts, “a chunk of voters think he’d be in play for the Cubs” as well.
Atlanta lost free agent Freddie Freeman to the Dodgers last offseason. Will Swanson be the next member of the Braves to sign elsewhere? Early predictions seem to indicate so.