When the Chicago Cubs signed shortstop Dansby Swanson to a seven-year deal last offseason, they envisioned an ideal double-play partner for second baseman Nico Hoerner.

Year 1 of the Swanson-Hoerner tandem produced the elite play the Cubs needed after prioritizing their defense up the middle. The top defensive players have a knack for making difficult plays appear routine, something Swanson and Hoerner did often.

Their performance did not go unrecognized. Both are finalists for the National League Gold Glove award at their positions, joining Cubs left fielder Ian Happ. Swanson and Happ are vying for their second consecutive Gold Glove, while Hoerner, also a finalist in 2020, is looking for his first. The winners will be announced Sunday (6:30 p.m., ESPN).

Although Swanson and Hoerner got firsthand looks at each other’s defensive prowess from opposing dugouts when the Cubs and Atlanta Braves played the last few years, a different appreciation comes from playing alongside each other. So who better to break down what makes them among the league’s best?

“There’s no ball (Hoerner) feels like he can’t catch and make a play on,” Swanson told the Tribune. “And there will be times he dives and makes a play and can’t get the throw off and he’ll get (mad), but the fact (he) even got to the ball … that’s one thing that makes him a great defender. And he obviously puts in the time and effort to be able to make all the different kinds of plays.

“He’s such an honest self-assessor that he knows what he needs to work on or sharpen up, so it’s definitely impressive to play next to him. When you can play around great defenders, that makes you better, makes you look better.”

Hoerner understands what it takes to play shortstop in the big leagues after starting 128 games there in 2022. Swanson’s trust in himself and confidence stood out to Hoerner as he watched his counterpart show what it takes to stay in the lineup over a full season.

“Just knowing how much he needs in order to be at his best every day has been interesting to watch and something I could definitely get better at,” Hoerner told the Tribune. “As far as how he plays, just his internal clock and he never is in a rush. It might look like he’s taking it easy on his throws, but that’s really a skill. He never has to hurry up because it’s always on the hop that he wants. He’s never sped up by a baserunner or a play, and that’s really impressive.

“He’s always doing things on his terms. He’s not really changing what he does in any situation or any runner or hit balls. Even when he slides, it feels routine. He’s got all those plays so dialed in and he’s been there before and nothing really seems like it’s new for him.”

Learning each other’s range and the type of plays they can make was an ongoing process through the season. New rules restricting shifts lessened the positioning extremes for shortstops and second basemen, but it still takes time to figure out spacing and how to play off each other — particularly on balls up the middle, where Swanson’s and Hoerner’s range can overlap.

Hoerner excelled on plays to his left, where he stole plenty of hits. His eight outs above average (OAA) in that direction were tied for the most among major-league infielders, and his 12 defensive runs saved (DRS) were tied for the most among NL second basemen.

“The angles at second base are a little bit different and naturally I’m a little more comfortable to my glove side at second base,” Hoerner said, “but like Dansby making difficult plays look routine, you get to a point where you’ve kind of been there, done that.

“There’s a mental memory bank of, even though this play looks like a highlight, I’ve done it before and it can start to feel routine. I’m getting closer to that and hopefully continue to improve.”

Swanson’s 20 OAA led all players this year, while his 18 DRS were the most among big-league shortstops and tied for fifth among all positions.

He was notably elite on balls he came in on, recording a major-league-best 11 OAA, and when going to his right, where his glove work and athleticism produced eight OAA — tied for tops among shortstops — and created numerous highlight-reel plays.

“I’ve always liked throwing on the run, so even routine balls that I can catch on the run, I just keep running and throw,” Swanson said. “It’s just something that I feel more comfortable with, so maybe that helps with some of the balls coming in.

“And going to my right, I’ve always either cut balls off and throw them on the run or do my little slide thing that I do. The slide thing I’ve done since I was a little kid, so that’s kind of always been my bread and butter.”

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The Chicago White Sox were on their way to a 101-loss season in mid-September when manager Pedro Grifol told reporters he was confident they would contend in 2024.

It seemed like a bit of a stretch, so I asked Grifol why he thought that would be a realistic possibility.

“Why wouldn’t we?” he asked. “Why wouldn’t we be able to?”

The Sox’s record suggested it would not be a quick fix, I replied, and history tells us it takes time to turn around a team that has played as poorly as the 2023 Sox.

But Grifol countered he had read something that contradicted my theory.

“There is a pretty good percentage of teams that can turn it around in one year,” he said. “And so obviously it depends on what we do this offseason. I’m pretty confident that we can.”

Grifol didn’t have the report handy, but no matter. Now he doesn’t have to bother looking for examples of a one-year turnaround.

The Texas Rangers proved him right Wednesday, going from 94 losses in 2022 to their first World Series championship only one year later. How did they do it? And can the Sox follow their lead?

Many factors led to the Rangers’ title, including hiring Hall of Fame-bound manager Bruce Bochy. The Sox tried that route with Tony La Russa in 2020 but regressed after one playoff season in 2022, and he retired for a second time for health reasons.

Spending a ton of money also contributed to the title, beginning with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien in 2022 and adding starters Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi last winter. While deGrom was injured early and didn’t pan out, the Rangers acquired Jordan Montgomery and Max Scherzer for the stretch run and postseason.

They ranked fourth in payroll at $251 million, according to spotrac.com, while the Sox were 15th at $162.8 million.

Anyone expecting the Sox to start spending madly, like 82-year-old Rangers owner Ray Davis did, is certified crazy. Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t mince words when he telegraphed the Sox’s offseason plans in September.

“Look, we’re not going to be in the (Shohei) Ohtani race, I’ll tell you that right now,” he said. “And we’re not going to sign pitchers to 10-year deals. But we’re going to try to get better, and that means trades, it potentially means signing free agents, it means playing smarter baseball.”

Reinsdorf, who turns 88 in February, is not going to sell the team or change his philosophy on spending any time soon, no matter the correlation of spending and winning. He surely would point out the Rangers spent all that money and still only got into the playoffs as a wild-card team, which is easier than ever with the expanded postseason.

The Rangers weren’t a world-beater during the season but distinguished themselves in October with sweeps over the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles before eking out a seven-game American League Championship Series against the defending champion Houston Astros. They had the good fortune of facing an Arizona Diamondbacks team in the World Series that was running on fumes with only two bona fide starters.

Every team needs a little luck in the postseason. But the Rangers earned their championship thanks to big-time players such as Seager, Eovaldi and Adolis García, who was perhaps the biggest winner of the postseason.

But back to the Sox. Can they emulate the Rangers?

Imagine Luis Robert Jr. as the Sox’s answer to Garcia in the 2024 postseason, with Dylan Cease pulling an Eovaldi and Tim Anderson replicating Seager.

No? Can’t blame you.

But the Sox do have a building block in Robert and he showed he has MVP potential, staying consistent the entire season despite the team’s losing ways. That’s a start. Figuring out who deserves to stay — and who needs to go — is what will make Chris Getz’s first offseason as general manager so interesting.

Getz already deserves plaudits for one of his first front-office hires in assistant general manager Josh Barfield, who was Mike Hazen’s assistant GM in Arizona. Barfield was part of building a young Diamondbacks team of overachievers that shocked everyone by getting into the World Series.

The Diamondbacks Way seems like a more likely game plan for the Sox to copy. They have a young core in Robert, Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jiménez — then a lot of question marks after that. Getz needs to decide soon what to do with options on Tim Anderson, Mike Clevinger, Liam Hendriks and others while finding out the trade market for Cease, Jiménez, Yoán Moncada, Michael Kopech and the rest.

Getz’s toughest decision is also the easiest on paper — declining Anderson’s $14 million option after his career-worst season. The possibility of Anderson turning it around elsewhere is realistic; the chances of him doing it in Chicago appear slim. If anyone looked like he wanted a fresh chance to become the Cody Bellinger of 2024, it’s Anderson.

Clevinger’s $12 million mutual option poses real risks, but the Sox should pay the $4 million buyout and not look back even though he was their best starter at 9-9 with a 3.77 ERA. No one was interested when the Sox put Clevinger on waivers, so picking up the option and thinking they could deal him seems far-fetched.

Getz’s easiest decision might also one of the toughest: Hendriks, who overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma and made a brief but admirable comeback attempt. Declining Hendriks’ mutual $15 million option makes perfect sense because the closer won’t be available for most, if not all, of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Hendriks gets the money either way. He would be paid $15 million if the team picks up the option or get it deferred over a 10-year period if the Sox decline. You can do the Sox math on that one. Hendriks could sign a low-salary deal to return, though many teams likely would take that flier based on his track record and personality.

The unofficial start of the offseason begins next week in Arizona at the GM meetings, where Getz will no doubt be a busy guy.

The 2023 season might have been a disaster for the Sox, but the Rangers showed the world that things can change on a dime.

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Forgive Montez Sweat if his enthusiasm wasn’t exactly flowing late Sunday afternoon. A day after signing a life-changing contract extension with the Chicago Bears — four years, $98 million with more than $72 million guaranteed — Sweat’s first public comments about that deal and his football future came in the minutes after his new team suffered its seventh loss of a wayward season.

With a tough-to-swallow 24-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the stumbling Bears had a lot more on their minds than the continued orientation of their new standout pass rusher. And Sweat, who started the week on the practice field in Washington and finished it with a modest two-tackle effort for the Bears against the Saints, was still too caught up in the whirlwind to give much of a deep breakdown on all that has happened to him and for him in recent days.

“It’s been a fast week,” he said. “I’ve really just been taking it day by day.”

But that big contract had to feel gratifying when it was finalized Saturday morning, no?

“It’s huge,” Sweat said. “It’s what you’ve been working for since you got in the league. So that was great. But I’m more worried about getting a win.”

As for Sunday’s debut with an improving Bears defense, Sweat realized it was a small first step on what will be a demanding climb. “I feel like once I get more comfortable and once I start knowing the plays, I can play faster and all those types of things,” he said. “So we’re going to see.”

There wasn’t an immediate splash from the 6-foot-6, 262-pound pass rusher in Sunday’s loss. His first tackle came on a 13-yard Taysom Hill run in the fourth quarter and he later stopped Saints running back Jamaal Williams for a 2-yard gain.

Sweat’s biggest contribution was a third-quarter sequence during which he beat Saints right tackle Ryan Ramczyk around the edge and then swatted Derek Carr’s right shoulder to cause a third-down incompletion. Initially, it looked like a possible strip sack with safety Eddie Jackson scooping the loose football and racing to the end zone. But officials ruled it a dead ball.

Admittedly, that was a small and encouraging flash.

“But that wasn’t enough,” Sweat said. “I’ve got to get there more. I have to have more production.”

Bears coach Matt Eberflus said the plan coming into Sunday was to use Sweat primarily on third downs and in 2-minute situations while mixing him in at other spots that made sense.

Sweat noted the necessary chemistry that comes when an entire defensive line can rush the passer with a collective fluidity was there “in moments” Sunday.

“But it’s definitely not all the way there yet. I’m still getting to know these guys. I’m still learning how they rush so I can play off them and they can play off me. I’m sure that will come somewhere down the line.”

Overall, Sweat contributed to a defensive effort Sunday in which the Bears held New Orleans to 301 total yards and somehow limited the Saints to 7 points on five fourth-quarter possessions which all started inside Bears territory.

But Sunday’s game summary centered directly on the turnover margin, with the Saints scoring a 5-0 knockout, including three interceptions off Bears rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent.

For the 10th time in the Matt Eberflus era, the Bears defense went without a takeaway. For the eighth time, the Bears didn’t have a sack. For the fourth time, they had neither.

Presumably, the addition of Sweat should help change that in the short term. In a best-case scenario, his presence will help open a faucet of impact plays over the next four-plus seasons. But it’s also worth pointing out the Bears made a top-dollar investment in a player with 35 1/2 sacks and 85 quarterback hits over his first 68 career games.

Even Sweat seemed to acknowledge the comforts of his new contract would also create a new set of expectations.

“It’s security,” he said. “But, I mean, it also creates more (demand) for me to get it done.”

On Sunday, Sweat lamented that he didn’t produce more, even with the circumstances of playing on the road in a new defense after a chaotic week.

“Football is football,” he said. “I was getting one-on-ones. I have to win those. Now we have to get back to the drawing board, check the film and see what I can do better going forward.”

As for how some of Sweat’s teammates processed his first game? Jackson senses the Bears defense will have an added edge going forward.

“It’s always a boost when you have a guy like that, who is that dominant can play the run and the pass and is all over the field,” he said. “Obviously, I’m pretty sure he’ll have things he wants to get cleaned up and work on learning our playbook so he can be out there more with us. But it’s always a boost when you add new talent to the group.”

Cornerback Jaylon Johnson said last week he would be bothered if Sweat landed an extension with the Bears before he did. But Johnson took the high road when asked Sunday how he reacted to Sweat’s new deal.

“I’m happy for him,” Johnson said with a smile. “He’s a high-quality guy. He is a guy who plays this game at a high level. And he definitely deserved to get that.”

Defensive tackle Andrew Billings, who got his own extension last week albeit a much more modest one, expressed appreciation for Sweat’s effort Sunday given the chaos of his week.

“He’s been here for three days,” Billings said. “That’s not easy to do. For anybody. He stepped up and did the best he could. We’ll go back and watch it all on film and see everything. I think he played hard and he didn’t worry about making mistakes.”

The big next step, of course, will require Sweat to get acclimated as quickly as possible so he can emerge as an every-week game-changer for a team that is low on them.

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