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#STLCards among teams with interest in Dansby Swanson, as I reported in this @MLBNetwork segment earlier today. @MLB pic.twitter.com/2aZ5qMl1TI
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 5, 2022
Dansby Swanson?!?
This is going to make my head explode. It’s Marcell Ozuna all over again. Guy is a well-established league average player, then has a Big Fluke Year and everyone says, WOW, this guy is great!Attention, Mo.
There was major league baseball prior to 2022. And prior to 2022, Dansby Swanson was nothing special. At all. Even including his terrific 2022 season, Swanson has averaged just 2.5 WAR per 600 plate appearances according to Baseball-Reference. This is not someone to pursue.But don’t take my word. The Steamer 2023 projection for Swanson says he’ll be worse than Edman & Donovan in 2023, and barely better than Nolan Gorman (3.0 to 2.3 WAR/600). And Masyn Blaze Winn is on the way. Therefore, taking age into consideration the Cards might well have *four* middle infielders who’ll be better than Dansby Swanson over the next 5 years. Seriously.
And elsewhere in the Heaven Help Us category, in Goold’s chat today it was revealed that the Cards are apparently in negotiations for Danny Jansen and NOT the vastly superior Toronto catcher with twice as many years of control and a wildly superior health record. By way of comparison, the oft-injured Danny Jansen has fewer plate appearances over the past three years combined than Sean Murphy had in 2022 alone. We should hope & pray these Jansen and Swanson snippets of info are only smokescreens.
It’s my guess that Swanson wouldn’t have been awarded a GG at the SS position if Tommy Edman would have played SS for the Redbirds for the entire 2022 season.
No on Swanson, but rumors did have ATL as the favorite to land Murphy, until AA called them lies. Hard to believe anything right now. Too many minds.
My guess is Mo was surprised to hear he was in on Swanson.
As to Jansen, if Mo’s computer likes him, so does Mo. It doesn’t have to make sense. I wish he would just find out what Kirk will cost and pay it.
Agreed Blingboy! Mo is often surprised by who he’s noted to be pursuing. Swanson really makes no sense at all.
I’d be ok with Jansen – just not real excited. I think if they trade for Jansen though, it means they have a lot of confidence in Herrera being with him in a future equal timeshare. But it’s likely Knizner getting the timeshare for the first half season. Not exciting, but probably an overall improvement to the team depending on who we trade away.
I agree that Johnny has no interest whatsoever in Swanson. At this very moment, he’s probably entirely focused on his scotch and soda along with the dinner menu at that swanky SD hotel. I can hear him now…”Hey Girsch, be sure to have my briefcase organized and ready for action in the morning.”
I hope you guys are right, re Swanson. At least you’ve got me almost off the ledge. 😉 So, thank you.
Mozeliak has on balance done a tremendous job as GM over the past 15 years. But since the twin disaster of Fowler/Ozuna, I don’t trust him, his scouts, or his bean counters to know the difference between the legitimately very good players, and the mediocrities-coming-off-a-big-fluke-year.
Dansby is a 7-year veteran who beat his career BABIP by 40 points in 2022, which is no doubt largely luck. And he allegedly also improved dramatically on defense — which is about as likely as Salma Hayek knocking on my door tonight for a date. I despise the MLB Network and others for incessantly describing this free agent shortstop class as the Big Four. What a load of crap. It’s three real stars and a firmly established career 2-WAR player coming off a fluke season. There was baseball before 2022, and again and again Swanson was strictly so-so. I hope to heaven the cubs sign him to an enormous long-term contract.
Turner is worth the money. Anyone that knows anything about baseball talent can see that. Will he tail off as he gets older, sure. But if they win a championship or two, it will be money well spent.
I don’t think anyone posted this yet. Goold tweeted that Cards interest in SS market would be in correlation with a trade with Oakland for Murphy.
There is a series of events where the #stlcards trade for a catcher — Oakland's Sean Murphy is atop their list, two sources confirm — and find themselves then exploring free agents, possibly at shortstop. That is where any interest in Dansby Swanson has its roots, per source.
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) December 6, 2022
To me this seems to suggest that Winn and/or Donovan would be part of the package going to Oakland. I don’t see them pushing for Edman as part of the package.
Regardless your take on Swanson, it would seem to be a clear win-now move, in my opinion.
Philadelphia has to be getting close to handcuffing themselves for further upgrades. They now have $157 million tied up for 2023 in just 7 players. Nola can be a free agent after 2023. The remaining 6 will be around $140 million for 2024. Wheeler can be a free agent after 2024.
I think they have to be included as serious WS contenders for 2023. However, their pitching staff is going to require some considerations over the next few years. They do have their top 2 prospects as pitchers ranked in the top 55 prospects by MLB.com.
Winn should not be included in a move for Murphy. I don’t think they should trade Winn straight up for Murphy let alone if it could be a package. I would want the A’s to send a package of Murphy, plus for Winn alone. I realize any prospect is not a sure thing but Winn will be someone special, IMO.
Whenever I see the term “per source” I instinctively disregard everything printed both before and after the term was used.
To me this seems to suggest that Winn and/or Donovan would be part of the package going to Oakland. I don’t see them pushing for Edman as part of the package.
The only reason it would make sense is if we are trading Edman as part of the package to get Murphy. Otherwise, you just stick with Edman at SS.
Philly was a serious contender for a WS title in ’22 and may have indeed achieved that title if they had faced any other AL team besides the Astros in last season’s WS. Houston was simply too solid of a ballclub in all areas of the game and in my estimation outclassed anything the NL had to offer up. I was very surprised Philly managed to salvage 2 games in the ’22 WS. I also don’t think Houston will miss a beat without Verlander in ’23 and I’m real comfortable with an early guess that they’ll not only easily walk away with the ALW title, but will also win another AL Pennant next season. They’re the best ballclub I’ve seen since the Yankees of the late 90’s to early 00’s.
Maybe OAK likes Gorman and Donovan? (3B & 2B). Both 6 yrs club control and near minimum pay. Edman slides back to 2B and Mo entertains the SS class of free agents?
Hey, this wild rumors thing is fun!I agree, I’d prefer not to give up Winn for Murphy, but if it’s the only way a Murphy trade happens, I might do it.
Thinking about it a little more, the SS signing would make a little more sense if Donovan is included than if Winn is. I read somewhere that Oakland is interested in high contact guys. Donovan’s trade value is higher than I expected, partly because he has six more years of team control (I thought he had a full year of service time this year, but that wasn’t the case as his callup came 2-3 weeks into the season).
If Cards trade Donovan, adding a reliable 2B (or SS and moving Edman back to 2B) becomes a priority. If they keep Donovan and trade Winn, they could just play Donovan at 2B this year and hold off on another middle infield addition for another year or two.
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