DETROIT — There is a good chance that Nick Swisher played his final game with the Yankees yesterday afternoon.
The most significant position player among the Yankees’ free agents this winter, Swisher is likely headed to another team. The exuberant right fielder has spent the last four seasons in New York and probably ended his Yankees tenure yesterday with the team’s 8-1 loss to the Tigers in Game 4 of the ALCS.
“I’ll talk about all that stuff later,” Swisher said when asked about it possibly being his finale.
Swisher declined to address much about his free agency, but characterized his four-year tenure in The Bronx as “absolutely awesome, bro” and said he “absolutely” wants to return. The right fielder has been a solid player for the Yankees, posting averages of a .267 batting average, 26 homers, 87 RBIs and an .850 OPS in his four seasons. He’s shown durability, too, playing at least 148 games each year, and filling in for Mark Teixeira at first base.
VOTE: WHICH YANKS SHOULD STAY OR GO?
Still, Swisher will be 32 years old next month and will probably require too much money to be re-signed, especially considering the Yankees’ desire to be under the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014. Swisher was also a horrendous postseason player for the Yankees in his tenure, hitting a combined .162 (21-for-130) with four homers, seven RBIs and 38 strikeouts in 36 games.
This year in the playoffs, Swisher batted a miserable .167 (5-for-30) with no homers, two RBIs and 10 strikeouts in eight games against the Orioles and Tigers. His defensive mistake in Game 1 of the ALCS helped cost the Yankees the opener, and he was benched in Game 3.
“Swish along with Andy Pettitte and Ichiro Suzuki and [Hiroki] Kuroda and [Raul] Ibanez, they’re all free agents. And there’s a lot of them. There’s more than that,” general manager Brian Cashman said, with the list also including Russell Martin, Mariano Rivera, Eric Chavez and possibly Rafael Soriano, who can opt out. “They’ll go into the free agent world, and we’ll have to have another conversation at another day when we have our pro scouting meetings and we talk to ownership.”
Swisher was one of Cashman’s sharpest trades, with the GM dealing a package headed by Wilson Betemit and Jeff Marquez to the White Sox for Swisher after the 2008 season. He’s now likely headed to another team. Asked last night if he thought there would be many changes with the Yanks, Swisher said, “We’re gonna have to find out.”
mark.hale@nypost.com