Nick Swisher just enjoyed a dream week as far as his free agency is concerned.
In the Yankees’ seven games before last night, Swisher went 12-for-29 (.414) with four homers and 12 RBIs. He not only had a lot of hits, but a bunch of huge, game-shifting hits. That will not completely counteract his anti-clutch reputation (since that is based mainly on the playoffs), but he does now actually lead the Yankees in OPS with runners in scoring position (.936).
And — beyond his control — his long-term finances received enhancement when Melky Cabrera was suspended 50 games for a positive test for testosterone. Cabrera was the only other high-end, switch-hitting corner outfielder projected on the free-agent market besides Swisher. Now Cabrera will be fortunate to get even a one-year deal for a small amount of guaranteed money, leaving the marketplace more fiscally fertile for Swisher.
The Yankees almost certainly will give the one-year, approximately $13.3 million tender (average of the top 125 salaries in the sport) to Swisher, which, if he leaves assures draft-pick compensation. Of course, the Yankees would love for Swisher to accept, enabling them to pay him a reasonable rate for just 2013 and avoid a long-term commitment that would further complicate their mandate to get under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold for 2014.
But there is almost no way Swisher will accept. He did not change to high-powered representative Dan Lozano last year to do a one-year deal in free agency. Swisher can probably expect no less than $13 million a year on a three- or four-year pact. So why agree to a one-year deal at that amount?
The question, though, is if the Yankees should be the team to commit those long-term dollars. The common theory is the Yankees are going to try to shoehorn multi-year deals for Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson — both free agents after the 2014 season — into those $189 million strictures. That remains the strong, strong likelihood for their direction.
But a case could be made the Yankees should consider doing the long deals with Cano and Swisher, and ultimately letting Granderson walk after next season. In that scenario, the Yankees still could have all three players for 2013. That would give the team an additional year to analyze whether Brett Gardner has proven healthy and capable enough to assume the center field job in 2014 or if touted prospect Mason Williams is making gains to be ready for that role.
It would be a less expensive duo, since Granderson is probably looking at a longer deal that will pay him $16 million to $20 million a year. Thus, the Yankees could use the difference saved between Swisher and Granderson to tuck another useful player or two into that tighter budget.
The irony is Swisher has flourished of late by being moved into the No. 2 hole that Granderson held for most of the year. Irony No. 2 is the duo just might represent the two best trade acquisitions of general manager Brian Cashman’s regime.
Beyond the price, a decision what to do could come down to this: What has more long-term value for the Yankees, an athletic center fielder whose swing is crafted for Yankee Stadium or a switch-hitter who brings power, patience and a lower pricetag?
Don’t downplay the significance of top-flight switch-hitters. They bring greater ease in devising a lineup and greater discomfort for opposing managers matching up relievers late in games. With Jorge Posada gone after last year, if Swisher leaves, Mark Teixeira would be the Yankees’ only remaining switch-hitter. Anyone who saw the success the Yankees had with Posada and Bernie Williams together (and in some of those years, Chili Davis and Tim Raines, too) can attest to the merits of multiple switch-hitters.
Athletic players tend to age better, so there is that edge to Granderson, whose power would allow him, as he ages, to move to right field and still profile properly for the position. In theory, the Yankees could put Gardner in center next year, Granderson in right to replace Swisher and try to find a cost-effective left field situation — individual or platoon — to replace Swisher’s lost power. Or they could see if someone like free agent Torii Hunter would accept a one-year contract to play right in 2013.
Although that remains the most likely outcome — the Yankees trying to replace Swisher after this season — the guy with the 20th-best OPS in franchise history (minimum 2,000 plate appearances) continues to at least provide a case why they should consider keeping him.
Lowe-key move to the bullpen
DEREK Lowe opened each of the past two seasons in a respectable form before plummeting to become one of the worst pitchers in the major leagues.
He was 3-4 with a 3.73 ERA through 14 starts for the Braves last year before going 6-13 with a 6.04 ERA the rest of the way. This season, for the Indians, Lowe broke out 7-3 with a 3.06 ERA in 11 starts before instigating his release by going 1-7 with an 8.77 ERA in 10 starts.
Armed with that data, his representative, Scott Boras, determined the 39-year-old was hitting a wall as a starter at some point during the season and “was losing control and command. We felt if we could keep his innings down and have him go through a lineup just once, he would be dramatically more successful.”
That was the first impetus to transition him to the bullpen. The second, Boras said, was his belief any team that would be looking at Lowe as a starter in 2013 would likely be a second-division club trying to get back-of-the-rotation innings on the cheap.
“Probably the only way, at this point of his career, to get on a good team this year and next year was as a reliever,” Boras said.
That is why Lowe and Boras were so amenable to the first-place Yankees’ sales pitch to put Lowe in relief. “They were really the first ones to jump onto the idea,” Boras said.
Of course, the relentless salesman in Boras already is pitching his product. He said: “Derek Lowe in the bullpen is a Lamborghini because he can do it all. He can pitch long, he can pitch in the seventh, eighth or ninth. This man is a Renaissance man. He has done it all in the bullpen. Plus he can teach others.”
At this point, the Yankees would take another Cody Eppley over another Leonardo Da Vinci.
DAVID Phelps has been a pleasant surprise for the Yankees, stepping forward when their two more prominent pitching prospects — Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances — have faltered for health or production reasons.
Phelps, 25, has a 2.69 ERA in 63 ²/₃ innings. In the last 35 years, the only other Yankees pitcher 25 or younger to pitch at least 60 innings and register an ERA below that was Joba Chamberlain, who had a 2.60 ERA in 2008.
Phelps is filling a role similar to the Hector Noesi ’s last year, shuffling between the majors and minors while pitching mainly long relief. Noesi was available to start if necessary, but wasn’t needed, whereas Phelps has been. Noesi pitched well in the role and the Yankees used the righty as the second piece, along with Jesus Montero, to get Michael Pineda.
It will be interesting to see what the Yankees do with Phelps: Use him as trade bait, project him as a low-cost starter or deploy him again as a safety net for both the pen and rotation.