Latest Red Sox rumor has team "seriously considering" Dansby Swanson

BOSTON -- Baseball teams typically have plans for offseasons. Those plans are never set in stone, no, but they do tend to chart a particular course based on expectations for the team and the league at large.

The Red Sox' plan right now at shortstop is ... not entirely clear. 

The latest rumor -- this one from Jon Heyman -- indicates that the Red Sox have interest in free-agent shortstop Dansby Swanson. So interested are the Red Sox that the team is "seriously considering" him.

What that means, exactly, is up for interpretation.

The Red Sox obviously lost Xander Bogaerts to an enormous 11-year, $285 million deal last week from the San Diego Padres. The Red Sox' best offer was reportedly six years for $160 million for their homegrown star shortstop.

Since then, Carlos Correa signed an absolutely monstrous contract with the San Francisco Giants. For Correa, it's a 13-year, $350 million deal. Almost unfathomable.

Bogaerts is 30 years old. Correa is 28. Correa's a two-time All-Star and a World Series champion, and he's a Gold Glove winner. Bogaerts is a four-time All-Star, a two-time World Series champion, and a five-time Silver Slugger. He doesn't have any Gold Gloves, but he was a finalist last year.

Swansby is 28, though unlike Correa, he'll turn 29 before next season. He was an All-Star last year for the first time, and he also won his first Gold Glove. Swanson's not quite the offensive player Bogaerts or Correa are. Swanson is a career .255 hitter with a .738 OPS. He's been better the last few years, hitting .265 with a .775 OPS since 2020. But that's still a step down from Bogaerts' .301 average and .851 OPS over the last three seasons. Correa has hit .281 with an .822 OPS in that same span.

But Swanson hits homers (52 over the past two seasons) and is a good player. And with multiple teams having missed out on Bogaerts and Correa, Swanson is likely to land a hefty payday.

Will it be the Red Sox who give it to him?

We're not sure. For now, we have learned that the team is "seriously considering" him. With the offseason now more than a month old, and with the team never seriously making a run to re-sign Bogaerts, now would be an odd time to get into the market for a shortstop. Nevertheless, the Red Sox are thinking about doing it. The official plan has not yet been formulated, it seems. But they're getting close.