SWISHER OR ETHIER...THE DEBATE BEGINS

I love Swish. You love Swish. Hell, all of Yankees universe loves Swish. How could you not? He’s incredibly likable, personable, and is a bang-up good guy. He’s always smiling and joking with reporters, even if he went 0 for 5 or had a game ruining error, he’s just one big ball of happiness. We all love having him around and at a certain point it becomes easy to ignore his stats. But if you look at them, it begs the question: Is this champion losing his spunk?

Nick Swisher has averaged 23 home runs and 71 RBI per season, pretty solid numbers, but has hit for a paltry .254 career average. Obviously he looked like a star last year, hitting .288 with 29 homers and 89 RBI. He’s an above average player and last year he was an All-star. So thoughts have been raised about what the Yankees will do at the end of this season. Will the Yankees let Swish walk if there is a choice between him and a bona fide All-star? The Yankees could very well face this serious dilemma in the off-season. Los Angeles Dodgers star right fielder Andre Ethier has repeatedly said that all signs seem to be pointing towards 2011 being his last season as a Dodger. He also said that he wants to stay with the Dodgers as long as he feels they are moving in the right direction and seem to be in contention to win. Well, it’s a little too late to hope the Dodgers are moving in the right direction. MLB had to take control of Dodgers management, all but making the future of the Dodgers look incredibly grim. If that isn’t enough to make them look like a train wreck, keep in mind that their farm system is outright terrible, landing only 2 players on this year’s top 100 prospect list by Baseball America, and one of them is a relief pitcher… Ouch.

To top it off, The Dodgers are off to a losing start and even backed by Ethier and Kemp’s superhuman performances and Kershaw’s excellent work as staff ace, they can’t turn it around. That’s not a good sign for the franchise. Add in that Ethier’s arbitration discussions have frustrated him, and you have a perfect storm for the Yankees to try and get the superstar.

The problem comes when you see Swish in our rightfield area, a true fan favorite. What other Yankees rightfielder salutes the bleacher creatures? Just mad respect right there. So what do the Yankees do? Do they stick with the fun loving Swish who’s been slumping hard all year or do we look at someone like Ethier with his .366 batting average and his 4 homer runs? It’s a tough call, I know, because Swish could break out at any time, but will he? Will he prove to everyone that he still has what it takes to help the Yankees win? Swish is hovering around .217 with 2 homers right now. Swisher is good for an average of around .260, with 25 home runs, and 80 RBIs. Where is it Swish, where is it?

And let’s talk personality, shall we? If Ethier was a guy who was a complete mood-killer in the clubhouse, it would be much easier to not want to let that into the Yankee family, but he’s not. Much like Swish, he’s a class act and an all-around great guy, always smiling and he’s always humble. To top it off, Ethier would have a rather smooth transition hitting for the Yankees, seeing as he’s a lefty and could do major damage in Yankees Stadium and Fenway Park.

(Photo: NY Daily News)

Look, I realize it sounds like I’m bashing on Nick Swisher. I’m not. Hell, I opened this article professing man-love for him. I think that’s as far as I need to go to prove that I’m not out to get him. He’s loved in New York. He’s a great player who has potential to put up All-Star worthy numbers in a good year, but he’s just not going to put up the same numbers as a guy like Ethier, that’s all I’m saying.

Letting Swish walk would make him incredibly sad, as well as all of us, I would hate that. So perhaps out of wishful thinking and wanting to keep Swish around, maybe we could also sign Ethier to a big contract. I’ve thought up a somewhat ideal idea, and an unlikely scenario:

Russell Martin walks, Jorge Posada retires, Jesus Montero takes over as catcher, Ethier is signed to a big contract to play right field, and Swish gets the DH job. It makes sense and yes, I’ve grown to really like Russell Martin, but unless he gets his average back up above .270 his days could be numbered with Montero reportedly becoming bored with not even having to try to do well in AAA.

Who knows, maybe Ethier signs a huge extension with the Dodgers, or another team snatches him up. Until then, it is something to think about. I know that Swisher pleases the fans, but the Yankees winning pleases the fans more. The perfect scenerio would be if Swisher was helping the Yankees winning, maybe then, we wouldn’t even be talking about this.

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--Grant Cederquist, BYB Staff Writer

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