The Philadelphia Phillies reportedly will meet with all four of the star shortstops available in free agency before the start of the MLB Winter Meetings Sunday.
Jayson Stark of The Athletic hears that both Xander Bogaerts and Carlos Correa are going to meet with the Phillies this weekend, along with their agent, Scott Boras.
Exactly when the Phillies plan to speak with Trea Turner and Dansby Swanson directly isn't as concrete, but Stark reports that "indications within the industry are that the team will have sit-downs before the start of the Winter Meetings."
While the Phillies have been connected to Turner and Bogaerts even dating back to this past summer, they hadn't yet been directly reported as having interest in Correa and Swanson. However, Audacy Sports MLB Insider Jon Heyman reported Friday afternoon that the Phillies are indeed suitors for all four, and Stark's report confirms that.
Over on Phillies Nation this afternoon, I wondered if part of the strategy in showing interest in Correa and Swanson was to give Turner and Bogaerts -- perhaps their top two options -- a sense of urgency on their decisions.
Indeed, Stark writes that these meetings "represent one more flashing neon sign that the Phillies are preparing to move quickly to sign a star shortstop, perhaps even before the meetings end Wednesday." So it doesn't appear that this offseason will be a repeat of the 2018-19 one, when Bryce Harper didn't sign his free-agent contract with the team until the final day of February.
Earlier this week on Audacy Sports, we released our top 25 remaining MLB free agents. We predicted that Turner will sign with the Phillies, but here are the contract projections for all four:
- Turner: Eight Years/$264 Million
- Correa: Nine Years/$295 Million
- Bogaerts: Seven Years/$203 Million
- Swanson: Seven Years/$170 Million
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