Yankees Aquire Swisher for Jeff Marquez

[SARGO127]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3700869


WOOT

[#1knickfan]

Does anyone know how good a defender he is at center? I really hate this deal if we brought him in as a cheaper alternative to Texeria. I can put up with him replacing Cabrera in center if he is a good defender but he strikes out waaaaaaaaaay too much for my liking.

[TKF]

the key is, that he is on the right side of 30 as an athlete and his better days are still ahed of him. For a change we get a player with upside left..

[Pharmcat]

ok deal


now for CC...

[#1knickfan]

the key is, that he is on the right side of 30 as an athlete and his better days are still ahed of him. For a change we get a player with upside left..

After giving up a pitching prospect of course...

[Da big3]

I hope this isnt a excuse for not gettin texira...

[Jitpal]

This move gives the team so much flexibility. He can play 1B/OF and he is a good defender at both 1B and the corner OF spots. It will be much easier to explore trades for Damon, Matsui or Nady now because there is someone that can step in. I really don't think this prevents the Yankees from going after Teixeira at all. It's just an insurance policy. If Teixiera is brought in, then they can trade one of Damon, Matsui or Nady and Swisher can step in. I think the best part about Swisher is he is one of those vocal leaders in the club house, wanting to do anything to win. You always hear the stories about the club house in the 90's with guys that would get in other player's faces and get everybody fired up. Swisher is one of those guys. Hard nosed, grind it out, lunchpail kind of players. In his plate appearances he actually saw more pitches than Abreu.

Plus, there was almost nothing given up. Betemit is a non-factor at best and it could be argued that it is addition by subtraction. Jeff Nunez is the guy they got for Alberto Gonzalez and isn't worth anything. Then there is Jeff Marquez, a sinkerballer who had one good year. He wasn't going to be part of the rotation and would have become a middle reliever. Those guys are a dime a dozen and there are about a dozen of those guys sitting in AA and AAA with similar or better stuff just waiting to come up to the major league level. The guy they got back Texiera looks like he could replace Marquez's future role in about a year anyway. He has great numbers in the minors. Looks like a solid trade for the Yankees. -Jitpal

[Pharmcat]

we gave up nothing in this deal

its a good move for us

[#1knickfan]

I don't know. I certainly wouldn't trade Nady to open a spot for him. Jitpal calls him a lunch pail player willing to do what he has to do to help his team win while Girardi calls him very patient. Meanwhile the guy has one one year in which he struck out less than 131 times (in seasons he's played regularly) and never had a batting average higher than 262. This year his average was a disturbing 219. That's not that much better than a pitchers BA.

[VirginiaKnickFan]

I don't know. I certainly wouldn't trade Nady to open a spot for him. Jitpal calls him a lunch pail player willing to do what he has to do to help his team win while Girardi calls him very patient. Meanwhile the guy has one one year in which he struck out less than 131 times (in seasons he's played regularly) and never had a batting average higher than 262. This year his average was a disturbing 219. That's not that much better than a pitchers BA.

That BA kinds of scares me as well. I still hope there's enough money leftover after filling the pitching needs to make a run at Texeria.

[HCYanks]

Ignore his low average this year; he had a .249 BABIP, which suggests his struggles were primarily due to luck. I'm betting his batting average next year will likely hover around the .250-.265 range, which will give him a good OBP when you factor in his excellent plate discipline; let's go with a .255/.375/.460 line as a ballpark. What he provides to the team will ultimately depend on where they want him to play next year. If he plays CF he'll be a big upgrade offensively over Melky/Gardner and a minor downgrade defensively (I haven't seen a lot of him, but I get the impression he's a subpar but not terrible defender in center). His defense is more workable in the corners or at first, but his production obviously won't be as impressive there. On the other hand, outside of signing Teix, prying away someone like Prince Fielder in a trade, or maybe bringing back Giambi (defense and health are a consideration here), there isn't a better option than Swisher. For the record, he's also better than Nady, who ideally shouldn't be starting.

[sully00]

Swisher is pretty much Giambi with a glove. I like the move, but I don't like him more than Nady who is an improving player who has more to his game than a good eye and swinging from his heels. But he gives the team alot of options in the field and he certainly has some power.

Anyone know anything about the kid Texiera the Yanks got looks promising?

[#1knickfan]

Ignore his low average this year; he had a .249 BABIP, which suggests his struggles were primarily due to luck. I'm betting his batting average next year will likely hover around the .250-.265 range, which will give him a good OBP when you factor in his excellent plate discipline; let's go with a .255/.375/.460 line as a ballpark. For the record, he's also better than Nady, who ideally shouldn't be starting.

Better than Nady? Based upon what? Some ludicrious sabermetrics nonsense. BABIP?? What the hell is that anyway. Not even Espn.com, which seems to compile plenty of that Sabermetrics crap lists BABIP in is statistics.

Swisher has more power but otherwise is clearly a far worse hitter than Nady. Instead of looking at made up stuff lets look at the facts. In the past 4 seasons Nick Swisher percentage of strike outs in his at bats were 23.8% ,27.3% , 24.3% , and 27.1%. In comparison Xavier Nady's were 20.0%, 18.1%, 23.4%, 18.5%. So even in Nady's season with the worst strike out percentage he was still lower than Swishers best. To make matters worse for Swisher, his two worst strike out seasons happen to perfectly coincide with Nady's best and the difference is dramatic. Lets not even talk about batting average because Nady's superiority there is even more dramatic.

[cmaff051]

I hope this isnt a excuse for not gettin texira...

Actually, this trade is indicative of us not going after Texiera.

Good move, Cash...

[cmaff051]

Ignore his low average this year; he had a .249 BABIP, which suggests his struggles were primarily due to luck. I'm betting his batting average next year will likely hover around the .250-.265 range, which will give him a good OBP when you factor in his excellent plate discipline; let's go with a .255/.375/.460 line as a ballpark. For the record, he's also better than Nady, who ideally shouldn't be starting.

Better than Nady? Based upon what? Some ludicrious sabermetrics nonsense. BABIP?? What the hell is that anyway. Not even Espn.com, which seems to compile plenty of that Sabermetrics crap lists BABIP in is statistics.

Swisher has more power but otherwise is clearly a far worse hitter than Nady. Instead of looking at made up stuff lets look at the facts. In the past 4 seasons Nick Swisher percentage of strike outs in his at bats were 23.8% ,27.3% , 24.3% , and 27.1%. In comparison Xavier Nady's were 20.0%, 18.1%, 23.4%, 18.5%. So even in Nady's season with the worst strike out percentage he was still lower than Swishers best. To make matters worse for Swisher, his two worst strike out seasons happen to perfectly coincide with Nady's best and the difference is dramatic. Lets not even talk about batting average because Nady's superiority there is even more dramatic.

What's wrong with striking out?

[#1knickfan]

Nothing if its the other team that's doing it.

[HCYanks]

Singling out strikeouts is stupid when a player shows himself to be productive through other means, which in Swisher's case, he does if he's playing to 06-07 form.

And why don't you try learning what BABIP is before bashing it? It stands for batting average on balls in play, which removes strikeouts and homeruns from the equation to try to show how much luck factors into a player's season. Swisher's BABIP dropped substantially this year, which suggests he had a lot of hit balls go to fielders, meaning his drop-off in production might have been out of his control. You can also point to the fact that he still hit for good power and that his line drive percentage went up as evidence that he had a lot of bad luck last year.

Now as for Nady, he's a career .280 hitter that hit .330 for a half season with the Pirates at age 29. The higher average (that came along with a higher BABIP!, whatayaknow!) crashed to Earth once he joined the Yankees, as he produced a .268/.330/.474 line that's much closer to his career averages. Nady's not going to keep hitting for average like he was before. Even elite contact hitters like Ichiro and Jeter don't hit .330 every year. Nady will be lucky to hit .300 again, which still wouldn't get him on base at a great clip because he doesn't walk all that much (this is probably the most detrimental part of his game). There are worse hitters out there than Nady, but he's still ideally a 4th outfielder. I think Swisher is a moderately better hitter and he's definitely a better defender.

This isn't rocket science, nor is it "made up stuff". If it's still giving you a headache, throw on Sportscenter and let John Kruk whisper sweet nothings in your ear.

[#1knickfan]

Singling out strikeouts isn't stupid when I also pointed out that Swisher's batting average is crap in comparison as well. And I will continue to bash meaningless and made up stats like BIAP because they are made up. Its a stat created in order to account for luck. Yea that sounds like a better tool for analyzing how good a hitter is compared to just looking at his batting average or how many times he strikes out.

I respect that these new made up statistical categories attempt to look at things beyond face value but people like yourselves abuse them in order to hide from facts. The fact is that Swisher strikes out waaaay too damn much. The fact is that Swisher's batting average isn't all that special either and last year it was downright pathetic. Admit those facts and stop using this sabermetrics stuff in order to prove to everyone that the Swisher's $hit doesn't stink.

[cmaff051]

Nothing if its the other team that's doing it.

You are aware Ryan Howard strikes out 200 times a year, right?

[HCYanks]

Singling out strikeouts isn't stupid when I also pointed out that Swisher's batting average is crap in comparison as well. And I will continue to bash meaningless and made up stats like BIAP because they are made up. Its a stat created in order to account for luck. Yea that sounds like a better tool for analyzing how good a hitter is compared to just looking at his batting average or how many times he strikes out.

You can be a low average, low strikeout hitter so long as can compensate in other areas. Namely, it works if you walk a lot (Swisher is one of the best in the league at that) and if you show some power (Swisher hits for a reasonable amount of power). He's not a star, but he's a capable hitter.

Luck is a huge factor in how players perform from year to year. How do you think a AAAA pitcher like Aaron Small managed to put up a 3.20 ERA with the Yankees in 2005? Every year there are players that perform both better and worse then their overall skills suggest, and this needs to be taken into account when you're evaluating single seasons from a player. Why do you think the Pirates dealt Nady for peanuts even though he had just made the All-Star Team?

I respect that these new made up statistical categories attempt to look at things beyond face value but people like yourselves abuse them in order to hide from facts. The fact is that Swisher strikes out waaaay too damn much. The fact is that Swisher's batting average isn't all that special either and last year it was downright pathetic. Admit those facts and stop using this sabermetrics stuff in order to prove to everyone that the Swisher's $hit doesn't stink.

Swisher strikes out a lot. He doesn't have a good batting average. The problem is these two facts don't make your conclusion about Swisher self-evident. Like I was saying before hitter can still be productive despite these problems so long as he gets on base and (to a somewhat lesser extent) shows some power. Adam Dunn and Pat Burrell are going to see some nice paydays this offseason because every competent front office in the league figured that out a while ago.

Again, Swisher isn't a star. Hell, he probably isn't much better than average if his hitting is coming from first base. But he's still a good guy to be plugging in, all things considered.