The Atlanta Braves and Dansby Swanson: Ditch or Dance?
By Ben Mause
2. Money
Last offseason, Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Javier Baez, and Trevor Story all changed teams in free agency. Added together, their new deals equaled over $710 million. The smallest overall value belonged to Correa’s three-year, $105 million deal.
Good players cost money. Good shortstops cost franchise-shifting money.
According to Spotrac, Swanson’s current market value pegs him to earn around $22 million per year. That would beat the average value of the recent contracts given to Matt Olson and Austin Riley.
Based on Swanson’s age, the duration of the contract would be less than Riley’s — and perhaps Olson’s — so it wouldn’t have the same overall value. However, regardless of contract length, $22 million for each season is a large chunk of change.
Few know the actual number Swanson is asking for, but $22 million would be an expected price tag for a shortstop of his caliber. Swanson’s representatives understand his value, and they’d be remiss to not ask for it in negotiations.
After the extensions of Olson and Riley, is Alex Anthopoulos prepared to give another $20 million plus deal to Atlanta’s infield? Or has Swanson’s All-Star season played himself out of AA’s price range, especially with Vaughn Grissom proving he deserves a spot in the lineup?
The money issue ties into what Anthopoulos and the Braves believe about Swanson’s ’22 season. If they are confident this iteration of Swanson is legit, they may be comfortable handing him a massive deal. If hesitant about his future production, negotiations will be more complicated.
His track record and deserved pay are issues, and the Braves need to consider them before committing to Swanson. But will the benefits of the relationship tempt the Braves to overlook the troubles?