The Yankees have apparently acquired Nick Swisher (and Kanekoa Texeira) from the White Sox for Jeff Marquez, Jhonny Nunez and Wilson Betemit. Betemit will probably slot into 3B for the Sox who aren’t keeping Joe Crede, Jeff Marquez is an interesting groundball heavy prospect and Jhonny Nunez is who Alberto Gonzalez was traded for at the deadline and did well after converted into relief.
While Swisher is not Mark Teixeira–not even close–he is signed to a contract that is very reasonable if he bounces back even a bit and he does put up decent power numbers. He is not going to hit 35 homeruns again but 20-25 is a reasonable expectation. Reasons to think he might bounce back are numerous–his LD% was up a few ticks in 2008, his IsoP was what it always is as was his IsoD and his BABIP was very low.
It’s not a bad deal, buying low on someone like Swisher, but it just makes me nervous that the offense is going to take a bigger hit than first expected in 2009. If nothing changes, Xavier Nady will be starting in RF and he is not going to replicate the production he put up next year so coupled with the probable offensive blackhole in center the Yankees better hope that Hideki Matsui is healthy and productive the entire season.
