Tuesday, April 17, 2012

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye


I'm still not 100% sure, one way or the other, on the subject of Nick Swisher returning to the Yankees in 2014. On the one hand he only hit .246 with RISP last season, but on the other hand Swish did have an OBP of .411 with RISP. So it's not like he did nothing in that situation. And to be fair, Joanna Garcia's boy-toy did hit .287 with RISP in 2010.

Nick's defense in RF has also been a topic of discussion, and last night's brutal attempt at trying to catch Howie Kendrick's long fly ball didn't help matters. However, I think this is a weak reason for wanting to see him go. First of all, right field at Yankee Stadium is pretty small, so it's not like you need a defensive wiz like Brett Gardner over there. Secondly, Swisher far from a horrible defender, as his UZR/150 shows that he's pretty much average out there.

The best reasoning I've come up with for letting Swisher walk away next season is how he fits, or more to the point... how he doesn't fit into the Yankee lineup. Swisher's bat is really only good for getting on base at a good clip, and hitting around 25 home runs a season. But those are things that the Yankee offense is not in need of.

Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, and Curtis Granderson combined to hit 124 home runs last season. And that was with ARod only knocking out 16 dingers, which is only half of what he's capable of in a season. In fact, take away Swisher's 23 bombs from last season, and that leaves 199 hit by the Yankees. Which would still be 3rd best in Major League Baseball. Therefore Swisher's power is something that would not be missed by Yankee faithful in 2014 and beyond.

In 2011 the Yankees had an OBP of .343, which was 2nd best in MLB. The 5th best team, in terms of OBP, were the Rangers and Tigers who tied at .340. Looking at the 2011 Yankees I see that only two of the regular hitters in the lineup hit below that mark, and one of those guys retired after last year (Posada - .315), while the other may be off the team come Opening Day 2013 (Martin - .324). So again... that's something that Swisher does well, that the team would really not miss.

Although the 2011 team did finish with a batting average of .263, which was 7th best in MLB, I'd like to see them acquire a guy that can hit .290 or better (yes, I know that's easier said than done). Last season Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter were the only pinstriped hitters to have a batting average greater than .276. Nick Swisher hit .260, which is right around his batting average of .266 while playing for the good New York team.

So why is it that I'm still not sure about watching Nick Swisher walk away from the team after this season? Well, I could pretty much sum up those thoughts by simply sharing this story/video with you. Swish-a-licious has the exact attitude I love seeing out of players, and I'm proud that he's a New York Yankee. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he's a former Buckeye from Columbus, OH.

Then there are the many things he does off the field that make me so proud of the guy. Click here to get information about Swish's Wishes and Strikeouts For Troops.

Not to mention that our "Wives and Girlfriends" section would not be as pretty without pictures of the stunningly beautiful Joanna Garcia on them.

There's still a ton of baseball to play in 2012, which could sway the argument surrounding Swisher's future with the team. So there's no reason to really get "into" this now. But after seeing the video of Bald Vinny saying that Nick Swisher is his favorite guy to call out during the roll call, I had to say something.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)