All signs point to Braves letting Dansby Swanson walk, but is it a smokescreen?

Recent reports seem to indicate that the Atlanta Braves are going to let shortstop Dansby Swanson leave in free agency. Should fans be worried about this latest development?

This MLB Hot Stove season, there are four free agent shortstops set to secure the bag from interested teams. One of those middle infielders is Dansby Swanson of the Atlanta Braves, who is coming off of a career year, making the All-Star Game for the first time and won his first Gold Glove.

Based off of the latest reporting, the Braves aren’t exactly in a great position to retain him. Not only that, but the organization is reportedly content on replacing him in-house.

Should fans be worried about the team trending towards moving on from Swanson?

Should Braves fans be worried with talk of Dansby Swanson likely leaving in free agency?

One of the latest reports comes from Jon Heyman of the New York Post, saying that at some point this season the Braves made Swanson an opening contract offer of around $100 million. Obviously, nothing came of it, since there was no announcement that both sides agreed to terms on an extension.

David O’Brien of The Athletic (h/t MLB.com) said that he places the odds of the Braves retaining as “less than 50-50.”

"“I went from being probably 70-30, I thought that Dansby would be back even as it dragged on, but then when it reached the Freddie Freeman stage, they let him get to the open market, I became a lot less optimistic,” O’Brien said Wednesday on MLB Network. “I’m probably less than 50-50 now that he’s coming back, because I think if he was they would have done it [already].“I think they’re going to wait to see what the market [is], if he comes back to where they’re comfortable paying him, but I don’t think Dansby’s going to. I think his market’s a lot bigger than Freddie’s was …. He probably priced himself out of Atlanta with the season he had.”"

It sounds like Atlanta is fully prepared for the possibility of Swanson leaving. In fact, a recent report indicated that they are open to having Orlando Arcia or Vaughn Grissom replace Swanson. In fact, O’Brien noted in a recent piece for The Athletic that the team flew Grissom to New Orleans to work one-on-one with third base coach Ron Washington. The veteran coach even had lofty praise for Grissom, saying that “he’s improving big-time.”

While losing Swanson would hurt for Braves fans, they must remember that moves the team has made as of late have paid off. Look at the prospects they’ve called up over the years, such as third baseman Austin Riley, outfielder Michael Harris III, and pitcher Spencer Strider. They’ve all made impacts, and each were rewarded with contract extensions.

Not to mention that general manager Alex Anthopoulos had a great pivot move after talks with first baseman Freddie Freeman stalled by trading for Matt Olson from the Oakland Athletics and signing him to a contract extension.

Given the recent successes the Braves front office has had, Braves fans should have a little bit of trust. Swanson is going to get paid big money this offseason, and if Atlanta doesn’t feel they can bring him back, they have a plan in place.