Cardinals: Signing this player would be a huge mistake for St. Louis

Dansby Swanson will command a big contract this offseason

According to MLB Trade Rumors most recent breakdown of the shortstop market, they expect Swanson to receive a similar deal to Javier Baez and Trevor Story in the six-year, $140 million range from whoever he signs with. And if you watched any of the Detroit Tigers or Boston Red Sox’s games this year, you’ll know how bad those contracts were.

$23 million a year to a player with his streaky at best and has mostly been an average or slightly above average hitter in his career is a foolish use of money for a club that desperately needs production at the plate. St. Louis already has enough guys who are “just above average” in their lineup, they do not need to pay $20 million+ to another guy to give similar production.

If the Cardinals going to spend big on a position player, their bat has to be better than Swanson’s. The best teams in baseball have at least three elite bats in their lineup, and although Swanson can get hot and be that, he mostly is not. Out of all of the free agent bats, the only ones I would spend over $20 million a year on are Turner, Correa, Bogaerts, Brandon Nimmo, Aaron Judge, and Willson Contreras.