They Should Make Me GM

I had to go back through my archives, but here is a conversation that Paul and I had on November 11, 2008. Check this out (from our internal instant messaging system:

1:58:00 PM: Andrew: btw...i figured out who i want to be the Yankees 1B next year
1:58:15 PM: Andrew: Nick Swisher
1:58:32 PM: Paul: yeah, he's good, for who?
1:58:37 PM: Paul: FA?
1:59:15 PM: Andrew: no...but the ChiSox don't have any room for him and he's coming off his worst season...

Pretty prophetic, right? On November 13th, the Yankees got him (although, in the end, not to play 1B).

All Swisher has done is set career highs for OBP (.378), SLG (.506), and is on pace to set a career high for walks (102). He's also on pace for 85 runs, 30 HR, 35 2B, and 90 RBIs. Not bad.

Here's what the Yankees gave up:

Wilson Betemit - .200/.280/.311 before being released
Jeff Marquez - 2-8, 9.85 ERA, 2.058 WHIP, 27 K, 22 BB in 45.2 innings of AAA
Jhonny Nunez - Only 3 IP in majors this year, but doing well in minors

The Yankees also received:

Kanekoa Texeira - 9-6, 2.84 ERA, 1.312 WHIP, 88 K, 43 BB in 101.1 innings for AA

Swisher has been great for the Yankees the past few months. Since July 26th, he's hit .296/.406/.613 with 12 HR. The Yankees have gone 28-10 over that span. Last night he hit two solo home runs including the walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th inning. He's been a big part of the Yankees, keeping guys loose on the bench and coming up big at the plate.

Not bad at all there, Mr. GM...not bad at all.