Cubs News: Dansby Swanson signing is great, but questions remain

The Chicago Cubs made a crucial addition to the roster Saturday afternoon as they reached an agreement with free agent shortstop Dansby Swanson on a 7-year, $177 million deal. Swanson joins Cody Bellinger, Jameson Taillon, and Brad Boxberger as new additions to the roster as a result of free agency.

The Cubs came into this offseason with a plan to spend big and fill holes to make this team a competitor sooner rather than later. Rumored to be involved in talks with top free agents like Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts, they ended up empty-handed for one reason or another.

Swanson is an excellent addition to the team and certainly makes the roster better than it was before. Swanson at short, Bellinger in center field, and Nico Hoerner sliding over to second base will certainly make opposing offenses think twice about swinging in their direction. That being said, holes are left to be filled that probably should have been filled by now.

Cubs: Swanson is a great addition, but this is not enough.

Intelligent spending or not, I cannot sit here and pat Jed Hoyer and the boys on the back for making this deal happen knowing what was missed prior to this. I'm not talking about Correa or Bogaerts - I'm talking about guys like Jose Abreu, Christian Vazquez, and Carlos Rodon. If the Cubs were content with this option at shortstop all along, more of an effort should have been made elsewhere to land more talent in the lineup. Significant question marks remain on how to make this team competitive and, two me, there might only be two options remaining. Either there will be overpaying to make it look like big moves were made to fill the roster, or brass will sit on their hands and wait for 2024.

All we were told was money could and would be spent this offseason to improve the roster tremendously. Swanson is a great fit for the Cubs and this is a great long-term contract to have on the books. But more could have been done and should have been done prior to this for the future.