This is a franchise-defining type of signing for the Cubs. The Chicago Cubs swept up (probably) the last best free agent on the market, short stop Dansby Swanson, with a 7-year, $177M deal, signaling the teams’ desire to return to the playoffs.
This is the first building block of many in the Cubs attempt to get back to the playoffs and add more World Series wins to their 2016 triumph.
I think we can all say that the Chicago Cubs are one of the sorriest organizations (sorry Cubs fans) in not only baseball, but also in all of North American professional sports. How else can you describe an organization that routinely fails to live up to expectations by either getting bounced out of the playoffs in hilariously moronic fashion or just fails to make the playoffs in generally?
Actually, that later statement is most accurate about the Cubs as despite being an MLB team to over 118 years, the team has only made the playoffs 21 times. Yup, you read that right. The Chicago Cubs have only ever made the playoffs 21 times in 118 years, which boils down to the Cubs having only made the playoffs in 18% of its years of existence.
That’s BAD.
Plus, this is also an organization that not only suffered a nearly 40-year playoff drought (1946-1983), but also infamously held the longest championship drought (108 years; 1908-2016) in the history of North American sports. In fact, I don’t think there has been a team, whether in North America or around the world, that has failed to win a championship for the next 108 years after winning its first.
I could be wrong, but that still doesn’t negate the fact that the Cubs and their diehard fans are desperate for success. And that’s why they have brought in the reigning NL Golden Glove winner, former Atlanta Brave Dansby Swanson.
As the Golden Glove award win suggests, Swanson proved himself to be one of the two best defensive shortstops in baseball as he recorded 161 starts, 193 POs, 391 AST, only 8 fielding errors, had a fielding percentage of .986, was named to the NL All-Star team, and finished 12th in NL MVP voting in his best season as a starter for the Braves.
Moreover, with Swanson having a very similar statical season to the one he had with the Braves 2021 World Series championship winning run, it’s clear to see that Swanson has revolutionized his game since his injury-riddled seasons of 2018, 2019, and 2020. And that he’s not in the midst of a decline, which is usually the case for short stops that hit the open market.
Obviously, this was an extremely clever signing by the Cubs hierarchy as they vastly improved their own fielding by not only picking up the NL’s best shortstop, but also snatching him away from a NL rival for the World Series.
Now, Swanson won’t be able to drive the Cubs to the World Series alone this year as Chicago doesn’t have the roster around him able to compete, but that’s not a problem for the current day. Swanson is only 28 years old and now locked down for 6 years, giving the Cubs plenty of time to build a championship-caliber team around the Golden Glove winner.
But, seeing as this is the Cubs we’re talking about, I doubt the loyal Chicago fans will see a World Series appearance, let alone a championship win, in the time of Swanson’s contract. The Cubs are perineal underachievers and will always be.
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