SB Nation Reacts: If the Cubs win one World Series with Dansby Swanson, is the contract worth it?

There’s long been discussion about Jason Heyward’s eight-year, $184 million deal with the Cubs.

Clearly, he did not perform up to the standards everyone hoped he would when he signed that deal — and remember, he was coming off an outstanding season in St. Louis, was 27 years old, and most thought he’d at least replicate that and perhaps get better. The Cubs weren’t the only team after him. At least one team offered him more money.

In any case, the Cubs won the World Series with Heyward on the team. Regardless of what you think about Heyward’s clubhouse speech during the Game 7 rain delay, they won. He was part of the group that ended the 108-year drought.

So was that deal worth it? I’d say yes. I would have said the same thing if the Cubs had won the World Series after they signed Alfonso Soriano to an eight-year, $136 million deal before 2007.

Thus the question in the headline here: If they win after signing Dansby Swanson to a deal nearly as large in total dollars as Heyward’s, is that deal worth it?

Recently, SB Nation Reacts asked readers all across the network a similar, though generic (not pinned to one specific player) question, and here are the results:

So almost two-thirds of fans surveyed agree that winning the World Series makes it okay if a big-money player doesn’t live up to his contract. I would tend to agree.

The SB Nation Reacts survey also asked fans about the oldest age they’d want a player for their team signed to a long-term deal. The overwhelming majority said not older than 38:

I’d tend to agree with this too. The deals recently signed for more than a decade are potentially going to hamstring team payrolls when the player is older than 38. Maybe those teams don’t care if they win the World Series with the player — but as always, there are no guarantees of winning. That’s why I’m glad the Cubs got Dansby Swanson for seven years and didn’t have to extend it longer. That deal will expire after Swanson’s age-35 season. It’s very likely he’ll still be at least a decent MLB player in the seventh year.

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