How Swanson became convinced that the Cubs are building a contender
Wrigley Field isn't a tough sell.
Every player that has ever joined the Cubs gushed about the fans, the ivy, the history, the day games. Players who weren't even Cubs for very long have encouraged free agents to sign up for the Wrigleyville experience.
For their biggest prize in this free-agent class, though, the Cubs had to sell Dansby Swanson on the ability to win. The management team of Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins tried to convince the former Atlanta shortstop this team can win in 2023 and keep getting better.
"The thing that really stood out to me was it felt like he was interviewing us," Hoyer said. "How are you guys going to win? What's your plan? What's your philosophy? What players are you going to surround me with? Who are the prospects that are coming? It was very clear winning was the priority."
Swanson seemed convinced as he met with reporters Wednesday next to Wrigley Field. He officially signed his new deal, worth a reported $177 million over seven years.
Swanson just returned from his honeymoon and his wife of less than two weeks, soccer star Mallory Pugh, sat in the audience next to his parents.
With a victory complete in his personal life, Swanson tried to focus on whether the Cubs can compete.
"It was a vision that was pretty easy to get behind," he said. "I did my best homework. I was having phone calls with everybody I knew that had been part of this organization, was currently part of this organization. It's just something I really felt like you need to show signs of life in order to get people to be a part of something."
There's no secret plan about how the Cubs plan to build another World Series contender. It's already been on display with the focus on pitching development and building up the farm system. Now they should have the best middle infield in baseball as Nico Hoerner moves over the second base.
"To me, you're only as good as your four defenders in the middle," Swanson said. "I feel like the group we have is pretty elite in that category.
"I don't think people completely understand run prevention is a really, really big deal. It makes your pitchers better, it makes you better, and obviously each run becomes that much more meaningful. We say it's a race to 27 outs and whoever can get there the fastest usually wins the game."
There appear to be no concerns about Hoerner embracing this move. Swanson said he already got a welcome text from last year's starting shortstop during the honeymoon.
"He reached out to me before I had a chance to reach out to him," Swanson said. "That meant a lot to me because that's something I've always tried to do when we got new players in Atlanta, be the first to reach out."
Swanson had a long conversation with Hawkins, who like Swanson is an Atlanta native and played in college at Vanderbilt. The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2015, Swanson said he demanded some straight answers about the Cubs' future from Hawkins. He had conversations with now former Cub Jason Heyward.
Swanson also talked about a video the Cubs created with pitcher Jon Lester talking about his own free-agent decision in 2015.
"(Lester) kind of just said it was the hardest decision he ever made, but looking back on it now, it would have been the easiest one," Swanson said. "It meant a lot to me because I always appreciated competing against him."
Lester helped lead the Cubs to a World Series title in his second season. Odds are against Swanson having the same level of success, but he promised to carry a commitment to winning from the first day of spring training.
Swanson spoke openly about his faith, talked about how his late grandfather - who passed on the day after his wedding - used to watch the Cubs on WGN every day, and decided Wrigley Field is where he was meant to be.
"I felt it's something I want to be a part of, something I wanted to help build," he said. "I felt like God gave me some unique leadership skills and just the ability to get the most out of other people.
"It felt like that's something they really valued. It really started to feel like a match made in heaven."
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports