MLB Rumors: Should Dansby Swanson regret leaving the Atlanta Braves?
In his first year with the Chicago Cubs, Dansby Swanson watched his former team, the Atlanta Braves, secure the best record in the National League. This included a late-season sweep of Swanson's Cubs, which just barely missed out on the final NL Wild Card spot.
Swanson signed a rather large contract with Chicago this offseason. The savvy Braves front office let Swanson walk coming off a career season, in which he made the NL All-Star team. Instead, Atlanta rolled with Orlando Arcia and Vaughn Grissom at shortstop, with Arcia taking over with an All-Star season of his own.
This begs the question: Did Swanson make a mistake leaving Atlanta in the first place?
The easy answer here is that it's far too early to tell. When Swanson left for Chicago this offseason, it freed up the capital to make a move for Sean Murphy, who is one of the best catchers in baseball at his best. There's no telling if this Atlanta squad would be THIS good with Swanson on the team.
Dansby still has six years left on his contract. His wife, Mallory, plays for the NWSL Chicago Red Stars. The match makes a lot of sense for Swanson, even if the team itself underperforms as compared to Atlanta.
Swanson got his World Series with the Braves. He is not lacking in that department, and now faces a new challenge with another storied franchise. Some fans may not see it that way, though.
MLB Rumors: David Freese opens up on Cardinals Hall-of-Fame vote
David Freese will go down in Cardinals lore for some of his legendary postseason moments with St. Louis. However, in terms of future Hall of Famers, Freese does not fit that bill. Freese certainly has the clutch gene, if that's to be believed, but even he doubts if he belongs in such exclusive company.
"Cardinal Nation is basically the reason why I've unfortunately waited so long for this decision and made it more of a headache for so many people. I feel strongly about my decision and understand how people might feel about this. I get it. I'll wear it. Thank you for always being there for me, and I am excited to be around the Cardinals as we move forward."
Freese went into more detail on Saturday night, as he discussed his decision not to accept a team Hall-of-Fame vote from the fans.
Freese detailed his time with the Cards, which included some uncomfortable conversations about his past. Perhaps Freese won't be a Cards Hall of Famer, but fans can still appreciate all he did on the field.
"Although we are disappointed that David has declined to be inducted into our Hall of Fame, we respect his decision and look forward to celebrating his great Cardinals career in other ways going forward," Bill DeWitt said. "He is always welcome at Busch Stadium."
Perhaps some day Freese will see things differently, but for now he'd rather serve as a memory than a plaque at Busch Stadium.
MLB Rumors: Cal Raleigh calls out Mariners ownership
The Seattle Mariners missed the postseason despite hosting their competition -- the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers -- at home to end the year. The M's were clearly disappointed in the result, and Cal Raleigh did not mince words when asked what needs to improve heading into 2024.
"We've got to commit to winning, we have to commit to going and getting those players you see other teams going out and getting -- big-time pitchers, getting big-time hitters. We have to do that to keep up," Raleigh told reporters, including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times.
Seattle has made some splash moves, such as acquiring Robbie Ray and Luis Castillo. They also traded for Teoscar Hernandez, and signed Julio Rodriguez to a contract extension. When compared to teams within theor own division though -- look no further than the Texas Rangers or Houston Astros -- Raleigh thinks Mariners fans should expect more.
When asked about the possibility of making a run at Shohei Ohtani, for example, owner John Stanton hedged his bets some.
"We focus on developing great players. We believe that the best player for us over time is going to be a young player that we're able to have all the way through our system and develop,"Stanton said in early August. "We will look at free agents every offseason to fill needs. From our point of view, Ohtani is the unicorn. We'll clearly look at him, we'll clearly be in the conversation. But I think we've got a great team with or without him."
This, it would seem, is exactly what Raleigh is talking about.