WHY I TAKE SWISHER OVER BELTRAN

Is it possible that we’ve reached a point in Nick Swisher’s Yankee career where you really need to question what’s next for the guy? True, he brings an energy to the Yankee Clubhouse that I have not seen in years. It's true, the Bronx Elvis is by far, a fan favorite. Everybody loves the guy. But you can’t avoid the horrendous postseason numbers he puts up. He’s batting .169 with 6 RBIs in his Yankees postseason career, that’s not bad, that’s horrible. Yes, I was really down on Nick Swisher right after the ALDS ended and I was calling for his head. It was simple then to want to cut him out of my life and move forward. Then I got to thinking, well, who would I replace him with? That’s not an easy answer.

I was reading through many blogs over the past few days and one caught my eye. It was from the Bleacher Report and it talked about Carlos Beltran, with the headline Should Yankees Dump Nick Swisher for Carlos Beltran? Without reading the rest, my immediately reaction was “Hell Yes.” Then I got to thinking about it. Most of my points were echoed in Josh Schermerhorn’s piece and I came away realizing that while Carlos Beltran is a great ballplayer, is he much better than Nick Swisher? I dug in and analyzed it.

Injury Factor: First off, the injury situation with Carlos Beltran is horrendous…it seems like he always hurt between his wrist and knee, it's never ending and that wears on the body.

Age: Beltran is older. He's 34 and Swisher is 30. That’s all I got but years mean something in baseball and if you don't believe me, ask Jorge Posada. In a world of the New York Yankees constantly being placed under a microscope for having an old ball club, it doesn’t help having Beltran replace Swisher.

Fielding: Carlos Beltran is a very very good outfielder. No question about it, but with dazzling plays for Carlos comes risk of injury… see point 1 above, the Injury Factor. I can’t avoid it, the Yankees don’t need that.

Hitting:

• Carlos Beltran: In 142 games, he batted .300 this season, had 22 homers, 84 RBIs and an OBP of .385

• Nick Swisher: in 150 games, he batted .260 this season, had 23 homers, 85 RBIs and an OBP of .374

True, Beltran's average is higher, but who's to say that Kevin Long can't fix Swisher to have a "last hurrah" in the Bronx next year and hit near .300. It IS doable you know.

Personality: Nick’s electric. I don’t know much about Carlos Beltran's personality except that I hear he’s an excellent teammate. Well, so is Nick Swisher and living in New York, I’ve heard a lot about his much energy Nick Swisher has and what a great personality he has and how much fun he has playing the game. Carlos Beltran was on the Mets for a while and in all his Mets years, I don’t remember many articles about Beltran’s personality, you know what I mean? I tend to think that if it was dynamic, I would have heard something about it, don’t you think?

Look, when I break it down this simply, it’s clear to me that Nick Swisher needs to stay in the Bronx, especially in comparing him to one of the best players in baseball. I feel as though the Yankees need to pick up his option, no doubt for 2012. Am I sweeping his horrendous .169 postseason average under the carpet? No, that’s a black eye on Swisher and I’m not happy about it, but when you sit down, compare some of the more telling attributes of both Nick Swisher and Carlos Beltran, one really needs to come to the realization that Nick’s alright.

But message to Nick, it’s go time bro. If the Yankees pick up your option, your goal is to get to the postseason and kick some ass. No excuses, it’s your job. Otherwise, Yankeeland may not be so forgiving when we kick you out of the Bronx for good after 2012...and that's just plain common sense.

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