Rival exec rates Dansby Swanson’s Cubs contract as best of offseason: Are they right?

Despite some around baseball thinking the Cubs overpaid for Dansby Swanson, one rival executive disagrees.

Did the Chicago Cubs get great value for Dansby Swanson? At least one rival executive believes so.

Swanson was the Cubs biggest free-agent swing this offseason, as they signed him to a seven-year, $177 million contract. Dansby originally was expected to re-sign with the Atlanta Braves, but he ended up out of their price range as the shortstop market took off. Chicago stepped in and met the challenge.

Swanson has family in Chicago, as his wife, Mallory Pugh, plays for the city’s NWSL team. It was an easy match once Atlanta was out of the picture. Dansby, coming off his best offensive season, will be expected to replicate those numbers moving forward as one of the highest-paid members of the team.

Did Cubs get a steal with Dansby Swanson?

Dansby Swanson is one of the better defensive shortstops in the majors by most advanced metrics. Despite the length of his contract, he should age well in that department, as his range hasn’t remotely slowed to this point in his career.

Offensively, Swanson has hit 27 and 25 home runs in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively. In ’22, he slashed .277/.329/.447, a decisive uptick from his previous two campaigns.

One NL executive thinks that Swanson’s 2022 season wasn’t an outlier, and that his contract in comparison to the three other big shortstops on the open market was quite favorable:

“If you’re talking about pure value as relates to the market, I might lean toward Swanson,” the NL exec told MLB.com. “I still think it’s a ton of money per year for a middle-of-the-diamond guy, but given what the rest of the shortstop market earned, it might end up being the best value of the group when all is said and done.”

While Swanson’s deal wasn’t as expensive as the likes of Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa or Trea Turner, it’ll still cost the Cubs a pretty penny. Dansby made his first All-Star team in ’22, and he’s 28 years old. The length of that deal makes it a favorable one, even if Swanson doesn’t live up to the hype.

By age 35, he’ll need a new, short-term contract either way.