Rosenthal's Latest: Swisher, Nady, Kapler, Zaun

Wow, Ponson is making 10 mil for not being able to pitch well enough to keep a job, yet I can't seem to find one to live comfortably on? Isn't it funny how the world works?

So, since Oliver Perez is married now, according to Rosenthal, I guess we have to adjust his projections? WTF

Last night on Red Sox Hot Stove Josh Bard was on. He said one of the main reasons for him coming back to the Sox, was because Dave Magadan was his batting coach in SD, where he had his 2 best years, .338 and .285. My question is Sox had Magadan last year, how come he could not turn around Varitek's, season long slump.
I bet Sox are taking this into consideration on the signing of Varitek.

I dont think the yanks would trade both Swisher and Nady...one or the other

"Brian Fuentes' agent had serious talks with the Yankees, but no offer was made. Fuentes would've been Mariano Rivera's set-up man and perhaps taken over upon his retirement."

They're assuming that Fuentes' career outlasts Rivera's, which is NOT a safe assumption.

The Braves don't need a CFer for next year (Anderson, Blanco, and Schafer are all canidates) and Swisher's bat isn't good enough to make up for his glove in CF. Its going to be either Nady OR Swisher in LF but not both.

Braves trading with Yankees, they are going to grab one, possibly two good picks from you, then you will be done for any Peavy move.

@Cyyoung

We were done with the Peavy deal anyways and none of the rumored Escobar, Gorkys Reyes/Morton, Locke deal would be in a Swisher deal. Even if one of them like Reyes was in a Swisher deal, we have so many other quality pitching prospect they could be swapped in.

Would love to have X back...

Swisher at 3rd base - no, he's left-handed.

Swisher in CF - no, he throws like a nancy.

Swish for Bailey - interesting

"So in other words, unless the Braves have a serious change of heart, which seems unlikely since reports have them unwilling to go even above the 3/36 the Mets offered, there is no competition? Thanks. Time for Lowe to realize the market isn't justifying a contract as large as he wants and to get this done already."

Agreed. I wonder if they actually close this out at the 3/36 they supposedly offered if there is any chance they can try to bring back Ollie too. The thought of this a couple months ago would have been nuts, but since then the Mets have signed K-Rod and saved about 2-3 mil a year off what most thought he would make, and now it appears Lowe may drop into their laps at a discount also. I like Lowe and Perez, and would be fine with either. If they could somehow swing both the Mets would be very dangerous.

I don't think the Yanks are desperate to trade either of the two. They floated the idea of trading one when there was a rumor of them adding Man-NY to the mix. If that's not happening then why not hold on to both? Swisher could still get 400 at bats filling in @ LF/CF/RF/1B/DH. I really dig the idea of them having depth for once. I would hate for us to trade one and then have an OF go down w/ an injury and be forced to go out and trade for a replacement.

I would rather trade Nady over Swisher since Nady is a FA and a Boras client. Nady is a good player but Boras is going to hold out for FA and then the Yanks would be in a situation where they have to bid against other teams and he's not worth that kind of a fight.

I was kicking around this idea yesterday. Tell me what you think. Seeing as how the market is so soft for LF/DH types, then what if the Yanks offered 1/12 to Abreu and then traded Nady for a couple of prospects? The Yanks traded a blue chip type prospect in Tabata and McClutchen and Ohlendorf were both fringy type pitching prospects who put up good minor league numbers but didn't figure into the Yanks plans. If Nady could bring back a good OF or SS prospect from a team with surplus (Dodgers, Brewers, etc) then that would suffice.

A line-up like:

Damon
Jeter
Abreu (lf)
Arod
Tex
Matsui (dh)
Posada
Cano
Melky/Gardber

w/Swisher filling in for a year and then put into the mix in the OF full-time in 2010 would be great!

I wonder, in the instance that the Braves did acquire Swisher, if they would try to trade Kotchman? Back to the Angels? That would be funny.

"I wonder, in the instance that the Braves did acquire Swisher, if they would try to trade Kotchman? Back to the Angels? That would be funny."

Swisher would play LF, as the Braves NEED OF help. Kotchman would stay at 1B.

"Their best years are still ahead of them. Nady can hit and his fielding can improve - and Swisher is a utility player..keep them, trade Matsui & Melky"

That comment makes no sense.

Nady's best years are ahead of him, and Melky's aren't???

You do realize that Melky is 24 and Nady is 30, right? Oh, and Nady had a career year.

Oh. Swisher isn't a utility player. He can play 3 positions well, but he hits well enough and plays good enough defense to be a full time starter at any of those 3. He had an unlucky down year in '08.

Swisher is absolutely not a utility player. Maybe all you meant was that he plays multiple positions, but when I think utility, I a bench player that can't cut it as an everyday guy. Somebody like Miles, Mark Loretta or Augie Ojeda. Swisher probably does have his best days ahead of him. Nady, I'm not so sure. Nady has never been anything more then a league average player. A nice little bat to play in a corner spot, and provide fringe league average offense for you. 2008 seems like a career year, and not the beginning of a trend, at least to me.

As bennie2323 suggested before... the Yankees should not even THINK about trading BOTH of Nady and Swisher.

I personally feel that the Yanks should withold from trading either of them (unless we get amazingly great value in return, of course). I see this for the Yankees this coming season...

Matsui as primary DH
Gardner/Melky platoon in Center
Damon in Left
Nady in Right
Swisher as backup to Tex and all the OF positions.

That's what should happen. They should keep that extra person and prepare for an injury, because Matsui and Damon aren't exactly poster-children for excellent health.

Wow, people are looking way too much into Swisher's 2008 performance, without even looking too deep into it.

Swisher is a youngish switch hitter that can play the OF and 1B, takes tons of walks and has plus power.

His BABIP in 2008 was pretty low, despite a similar line drive rate to his previous few seasons.

Swisher was a very, very good hitter while playing in a pitcher's park in Oakland, and I really believe that 2008 was more of a fluke.

KW really dropped the ball by dealing Swisher for so little. I'd have rather that they traded Jermaine Dye, and actually landed some decent young talent, rather than stupid Jeff Marquez.

Also, Swisher to the Cubs would've made some sense if Bradley hadn't signed. Solid D, switch hitter, hits for power, takes walks, isn't too expensive. Damnit, I kinda wish the Cubs at least tried to go after Swisher.

"Their best years are still ahead of them. Nady can hit and his fielding can improve - and Swisher is a utility player..keep them, trade Matsui & Melky"

"That comment makes no sense.

Nady's best years are ahead of him, and Melky's aren't???

You do realize that Melky is 24 and Nady is 30, right? Oh, and Nady had a career year.
Oh. Swisher isn't a utility player. He can play 3 positions well, but he hits well enough and plays good enough defense to be a full time starter at any of those 3. He had an unlucky down year in '08."
At this point Nady is a better hitter and field than Melky. Melky had a bad year & did not progress while Nady seems to have - Id rather have Nady start then Melky at this point. Melky's best years could be ahead of him, but you wouldnt know after last year - both he and Cano were a total bust. Nady had a great year, obviously he can hit for average, and last year can be the first of many good years, he can be hitting his stride. So Nady is 6 years older, he still is only 30, far from over the hill. Therefore my comment makes sense. Swisher does play multiple positions so I used the term utility player, maybe incorrectly, but oh well, its only a message board.
Come to think of it, maybe the Yanks shouldnt trade anyone because Melky and Gardner can play at AAA since they are in their 20s, keep Nady and Swisher around to support Matsui and Damon both of whom most likely will need to DH often throughout the year.
Ultimately it will come down to what Brian Cashman thinks can get his team to the 2009 World Series.
If the Yanks sign Manny, then a trade would have to be made because then they would be overloaded with outfield/DH types..

I wish the sox would have recieved more for swish, but whatever. I am happy he's gone, I've never seen so many 6 pitch 3-2 count strike outs when we needed him to just put it in play. Some people say he sees a lot of pitches... yeah he does, great, especially when he does nothing with them.

The fact is that he only played well when he was CONSISTENTLY playing first base, and he did that for less than a month. If he's moved around here and there, or riding the pine for a few games, he's going to give you the same sub .200 average he hit last year. Even with decent power, I'm glad he's off the sox.

I think people are missing the point. Nady is a good player and IMO can put up an acceptable .285/.350 line w/ 20-25 hrs and 80-90 rbis. i can take that from a #6 or #7 player. It would probably make sense for the Yanks to see what he does in 2009 before making a committment to him. However, because he is a Borad client headed into FA there appears to be ZERO possibility of him signing an extension. That being said, a Boras client coming off of a good year, hitting the open market will probably mean that whoever signs him will be overpaying him w/ neogtiations dragging. He's not that good of a player to "fight" for, especially when you have other corners like Vlad, Crisp, Bay and Crawford might hit the market that aren't Boras related. I also, hope the Yanks avoid Holliday all together. I just need a team to step up and keep him from signing with Boston. Supposedly the reason why the Yanks signed Tex this year was because they weren't over enthused over the FA available next year. Maybe 2010 will be a quiet FA year for the Yanks?

YFS78-

Agreed on Nady.

I think Yanks get one of Bay or Holliday.

Holliday-Jackson-Swisher would be one awesome OF defensively.

I agree that after Nady, Matsui and Damon come off the books, the Yankees will go hard after one of the big four OF (Bay, Holliday, Vlad, Crawford).

Yankee77, I can't find one post in this thread, from a Braves' fan or anyone else, suggesting Nady & Swisher for Prado and spare minor leaguers. In fact, there is at least one post asking what it would take. The rest mention one or the other. Please read correctly before you start bashing Braves' fans.

As for Swisher the Yanks didn't give up anything close to a prospect so why would they now have to trade one??

As for the Yanks not having to trade either I don't see how you figure that. If Matsui is DH and Damon in left (b/c he's not a CF) and Melky/Gardner in CF then you have Nady and Swisher in RF, one of them have to go?? theres no way around it.

As for Swisher the Yanks didn't give up anything close to a prospect so why would they now have to trade one??

As for the Yanks not having to trade either I don't see how you figure that. If Matsui is DH and Damon in left (b/c he's not a CF) and Melky/Gardner in CF then you have Nady and Swisher in RF, one of them have to go?? theres no way around it.

The yankees can expect a good prospect back because they are not desperate to make a trade for either one.

Damon LF 70% CF 30%
Matsui LF 30% DH 50%
Nady RF 60% DH 30%
Swisher RF 40% DH 20% 1B 10%
Cab/Gard CF 70%

The thing about Zaun sounds ike Varitek, only 5 million cheaper.

Jeez. What is it with these Braves fans and their horrible trade projections.

Both Nady and Swisher for what? Please enlighten me. Since you want to give nothing back.

Someone said Prado and a few low level arm prospects. ERRRR wrong. We do not need any more low level arm prospects at the moment. Prado (please) we have Ransom who is of equal caliber.

Keep diggin' guys. Just maybe and its a long shot, but maybe you guys pull off a signing this offseason or a legit trade.

Face is guys. You want Nady or Swisher (especially swisher) you're gonna have to part with a prospect.

We need to trade neither by the way.

Posted by: yankee77 | January 06, 2009 at 12:47 PM
=========================

what the heck are you talking about? no one said Prado and low level pitching for both. when i said we should trade for both that was wishful thinking. i know we will only get one and in my post i said what would it take for either/both.

In all honesty Brent Lillibridge would have prob been a good person to include in a trade with you guys just because he is a SS and to my knowledge you guys dont really have any SS to back up Jeter or to be ready when he is gone. or do you?

A's Zaun ?