Dansby Swanson by Alex Anthopoulos of Braves

ATLANTA – When Alex Anthopoulos, Braves’ president of baseball operations, met with members of the media at general managers meetings Wednesday, he was asked how Dansby SwansonThe situation may be different from the one experienced by Freddy Freeman last year.

“I think any time you have a great player who is a free agent, it’s hard to sign these players because they earned it right,” Anthopoulos said. “They put themselves in a really good position with great play. So you are happy as a club because they are a huge part of the win.”

Like Freeman last year, Swanson entered the free agent market without speaking about the contract with Braves over the past few months. An Atlanta resident explained that he would like to continue playing for his hometown team. But at the moment, he does not know where he will play next year.

Swanson significantly boosted his value as he ranked 11th among all MLB players and second among short stops with 6.4 the war this year. He has hit no fewer than 25 Top Plays in each of the past two years and has been ranked 2nd among MLB players and 1st among Shortstops gamers with 21 Above average outs this year.

With his success, Swanson positioned himself for a $100 million contract, which could pay him $20 million annually over the next five or six seasons.

“He has become a great player,” said Anthopoulos. “And in my opinion, he is arguably the best short-term defensive player in the game with the work he has done.”

Anthopoulos also had a great appreciation for Freeman’s talents. So while he remains highly courteous and appreciative of Swanson, it is still too early to tell if Shortstop will return to Atlanta to continue his role as Braves captain.

While it seems likely that the Braves will choose an outside option if Swanson is to come out, Anthopoulos noted that the Orlando Arcia was the Brewers’ daily stopping point just a few years ago. He also said he may reach a point where von Grissom can be considered ready to be a daily major league pit stop.

Grissom plans to spend some time this winter training with Braves III base coach Ron Washington, who has long been considered one of the game’s best coaches.