Chicago Cubs among the teams expressing interest in Dansby Swanson

Eric Cole

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 11: Dansby Swanson #7 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after a hit against the Philadelphia Phillies during the ninth inning in game one of the National League Division Series at Truist Park on October 11, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Adam Hagy/Getty Images)

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.

Sources: #Cubs among most active teams in the shortstop market during early days of free agency. They’ve been in touch with the agents for Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, and Dansby Swanson. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 12, 2022

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.

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.