Smyly on Swanson: 'That's the guy I would get' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
By the offseason's end, it felt like Dansby Swanson was the consolation prize of the shortstop market for the Chicago Cubs.
As they watched Xander Bogaerts, Trea Turner and Carlos Correa find homes not named Wrigley Field, they landed on Swanson just before the buzzer sounded on the shortstop market.
But, to Cubs pitcher Drew Smyly, the Cubs got the grand prize in Swanson.
"He really, really wants to win and help the guys around him because he doesn't have a big ego at all," Smyly said to The Athletic. "I was saying that last year, 'If the Cubs are trying to get a shortstop, we got to go get Dansby. That's the guy I would get.' He's just a winner. He makes people better. He's very positive. Especially with some of our younger players, they'll see how he goes about his business and take to that."
Smyly played with Swanson on the Braves 2021 World Series team, going 11-4 as a starter that season with Atlanta.
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Swanson signed with the Cubs just before Christmas, agreeing to a seven-year, $177 million deal with the North Siders.
He spent the last seven seasons with the Braves, earning his first All-Star nod and Gold Glove last season.
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