There's a lot to like about yesterday's trade for Nick Swisher. He's a switch-hitter who can play four positions in the field, is a patient hitter with some power and cost the Yankees absolutely nothing that they'll miss next season. His versatility will be helpful to Joe Girardi while he's filling out lineups and he's a decent bet to rebound from a subpar 2008 season.
A .219 batting average jumps off his 2008 stat line, but so should a .249 batting average on balls in play. Swisher hit line drives 21% of the time, a career best, which should equate to a much better BABIP, and, therefore, a much better batting average overall. He'll only be 28 next season and has walked 279 times in the last three seasons, which made his pickup a classic buy low move by Brian Cashman.
How they use him will determine just how good a move it was. If they use him as a reason to say their permanent goodbyes to Bobby Abreu, for example, it's a plus for the team. If his presence on the roster leads them to deal Hideki Matsui, another plus. If Swisher is here to give them cover for not vigourously pursuing Mark Teixeira, however, it's much harder to like the trade.
Teixeira is a better hitter and a better fielder than Swisher and is less than a year older. With Teixeira at first and Swisher in an outfield corner, the Yankees have improved themselves, while still saving money that they would have spent on a free agent right fielder. And that's even if they went with Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera in center. If they start Swisher at first, though, with Matsui and one of those center fielders in the lineup, their offense will regress even more than it did in 2008.
Swisher does allow the team to take more of a wait and see approach with Teixeira, so other teams can set the market and allow the Yankees to top them. Scott Boras, Teixeira's agent, won't close the Yankees out of the bidding even if they aren't the first team to make a bid. Again, Swisher's versatility means there's no reason to paint yourself into a corner with how you'll use him on the first day of free agency.
The Yankees have prioritized pitching in free agency. That's all well and good but they'd be a better team with Swisher, Teixeira and CC Sabathia than they would be with Sabathia, Swisher and Derek Lowe. It might be possible to get all four, it's too early in the process to know, and no possibilities should be erased because of Nick Swisher.
