Boston Red Sox missed the boat on Dansby Swanson
He who hesitates is lost so they say, and having written an article on whether the Boston Red Sox should sign Dansby Swanson as some thought they were considering doing, action overtook writing and the Cubs signed the former Braves’ star to a quite reasonable contract as these things go.
The Cubs beat the article to the punch by signing the Gold Glove shortstop to a seven-year, $177M deal. While that ain’t exactly chump change, it’s a far cry from the ridiculous contract the Padres shelled out to Xander Bogaerts. It was a nice deal for the Wrigley Field group.
Chaim Bloom, the Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer failed to pull the trigger on this one, and it’s an ominous sign that the red hose is still trying to mismanage itself into a “sustainable” model. That means cheap.
Unfortunately, the only thing they’ll sustain if they keep this modus operandi up is to sustain last place in the American League East, a position they’ve settled into nicely in two of the past three years.
Why the Boston Red Sox should have signed Swanson
Swanson is a very good player. In 2022, he hit a mediocre .277 in 2022 but had 25 home runs and 96 RBIs. That’s good production (ironically though, still less than traded outfielder Hunter Renfroe in his lone season in Boston, at least in HRs).
And the deal accepted for seven years and $177M has to be considered very reasonable for a very good hitter and a great (as in Gold) glove. They also would have avoided a ludicrous double-digit year deal like the one the Padres gave to Bogaerts at 11 years and $285M.
That length of deal makes no sense whatsoever unless it’s to sign a truly overwhelming superstar like Aaron Judge, work a sign-and-trade deal for Shohei Ohtani, or sign a younger top All-Star like the Sox’s own Rafael Devers.
Devers is reportedly the Sox’s top priority and such a mega-deal in his case might actually make sense. He only recently turned 26 so a big deal for 10 years plus isn’t ridiculous since he can seamlessly slot into the DH role when his fielding days are over.
It’s hard to argue against Bloom’s signing him to a monster deal. They should go ahead and sign him, especially now that they passed on Swanson.
The other option suggested here if they can’t or don’t sign Devers to an extension soon, is to immediately trade him for top MLB outfield and starting pitching, not prospects.
Otherwise, the stumbling and bumbling Sox had better prepare themselves for an onslaught of recrimination from Red Sox Nation.
The Boston Red Sox options with Swanson off the table
Let’s assume for the moment the Sox sign Devers. It will be big money for lots of years but as noted, he’s young enough and good enough to be one of the rare cases where it actually might make sense.
They can still play last year’s disappointing big signing Trevor Story at shortstop, his natural position if his arm allows it. An alternative and a good one would be to re-sign two-time former Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias (disclosure: a favorite here) who could also play second on a reasonable (read: cheap) two or three-year deal.
Iglesias hit .356 in 23 games for Boston in their Cinderella-like 2021 run to the playoffs. He’s also a good fielder. Though he’s soon to be 33 years old, Iglesias still fits Boston like a glove. Middle infield problems solved.
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They then can turn their attention to the outfield and starting pitching. Bloom needs to trade for an outfield slugger to team with Kike Hernandez (assuming he stays in center field) and new signee Masataka Yoshida.
He also needs to either sign with whatever funds the penurious absentee Red Sox ownership allocates or trade for starting pitching.
Making decisions like that is why Chaim Bloom makes the big bucks (unlike some blog writers). He should have signed Swanson at those numbers. It would have made the Boston Red Sox relevant again, and that’s a good thing.
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But signing Iglesias to play short or moving Kike Hernandez to second base and trading for a top slugging outfielder or two is another option. Alex Verdugo is eminently expendable and they have good prospects to trade to make up the talent differential in any deal.
Chaim Bloom has to act decisively. Bottom-feeding is a quick road to floundering their way back to the bottom of the AL East and gross failure once again.
Better to shoot for the sky and all the marbles rather than fade out with a whimper, Mr. Bloom. If you have the opportunity, just go for it.