Nick Swisher has announced via his Facebook page that he will sit out the rest of the 2016 season to be with his family following the birth of his second child. He emphasizes that he is not retiring — he will continue to train and will determine over the winter whether he will play next year.
This season must have been frustrating for Swisher. The Braves released him in late March, and he quickly signed a minor league deal with the Yankees, only to be passed over repeatedly as one Yankees first baseman after another went down with an injury. That said, it’s not hard to see why the Yankees apparently weren’t comfortable with Swisher as a big-league option — he batted just .196/.312/.320 with Cleveland and Atlanta last season, then hit a modest .255/.297/.377 in 236 plate appearances for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2016.
Swisher is making $15MM in the last season of a contract he initially signed with the Indians. (He has a vesting option for 2017 that obviously won’t be picked up.) The Braves are responsible for that total, although they were paid a significant sum by the Indians when they dealt for Swisher in an exchange of bad contracts last year. The 35-year-old Swisher is a career .249/.351/.447 over a dozen years in the big leagues.
I’d guess that he’ll retire after not making a roster after spring.
Does the Braves save on any of that contract now that he is sitting out or when they released him that basically gave it all to him no matter what ?
Swisher was released meaning he could be dead and his family would still get that money
Nope. Not a penny. Yankees save money on his minor league deal…
Braves would’ve saved money if Swisher made the big leagues…
If Swisher couldn’t get called up to the team getting some of the worst production in the league at 1st base, he probably isn’t getting called to go anywhere else. It isn’t always our choice on when to hang them up.
I guess you aren’t counting the games refsnyder has played at 1st…. But then again you don’t say anything that makes sense anyway.
His knees are done. From what I’ve heard, he’s trying, but he just doesn’t have the legs strength he used to have…
“This season must have been tough for swisher”
Staying home with his family and making $15 million just for 2016. add that to the rest of his career earnings and he’s at $92.5 million. That makes 2016 a very tough year, indeed.
THIS season? Try “Every season from 2014 onwards”.
The guy is done as a big leaguer, he won’t let it go and it’s sad. Just move onto the next phase, Swish, you’ve made almost $100 mill as a big leaguer for 8 seasons between 2.2 and 4.3 WAR. Let it go.
If you can’t walk away after earning $92 mil in the last few years something is very wrong.
That’s easy for us to say because the money is staggering. But if this is all you’ve done your whole life do you really want to be retired at 35? What do you want to do for the next 50 years? I don’t think it’s ever really about the money with these guys, but they are competitive athletes and don’t want to hang them up until it’s absolutely necessary.
I’m really hoping Swisher will extend his playing career as long as possible. It’s the only thing keeping his brotastic personality out of a broadcast booth fulltime. The idea that Swisher and Rex Hudler could even randomly share a booth is frightening.
Time for Swisher to face facts. His knees have been shot for 3 years. It’s over.
The BROmance is over.