Chicago Cubs among the teams expressing interest in Dansby Swanson

The Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves are in….very different spots going into the 2023 season. The Braves are trying to keep the band together, win their division yet again, and make another deep run in the playoffs. The Cubs, on the other hand, are coming off a season where they were 14 games under .500, have recently let a lot of their veteran talent move on, and have a rotation that can best be described as “speculative”.

Given that, it is a little surprising that the Cubs are thought to be looking to be aggressive this winter. It goes without saying that the Cubs have a rabid fanbase that wants a winner on the field, but that hasn’t stopped the Chicago’s ownership and front office from making unpopular moves that made the team worse in the short-term. However, it has been consistently reported for a while that the Cubs are looking to make a splash, particularly at shortstop, and one of the players they are eyeballing may be familiar to Braves fans.

The Cubs interest in Dansby Swanson does make a certain amount of sense

This is obviously just a list of names at the top of the shortstop market, so there is no need for Braves’ fans to set Truist on fire or anything quite yet, but it is notable that Morosi mentioned specifically that the Cubs have been in touch with Dansby’s agents.

Moreover, Dansby may be exactly the sort of shortstop that the Cubs want to target. They clearly want someone of real value to man the position and guys like Turner and Correa may be more than they are comfortable spending until they can figure out how to win games again. Players like Dansby (or Bogaerts) may be more in their wheelhouse as they try to solidify shortstop while rebuilding the rest of the roster around them.

Stay tuned, Braves fans. It is only going to get wilder from here.