I was going through the list of the first crop of minor league free agents at MLB Trade Rumors tonight when I came across the name Wilson Betemit. Betemit is not a player who I followed particularly closely this season, but reading that name immediately reminded me of the trade that sent Nick Swisher to the New York Yankees.
At the time of the trade, I loved the move for the Yankees. Swisher was coming off a miserable performance—he hit just .219/.332/.410 in 2008—during his lone stint with the Chicago White Sox. His .251 batting average on balls in play indicated that he was the victim of some plain old bad luck, though, as his 20.9% line drive rate was actually the best of his career. Bad luck or not, it was a great buy-low opportunity for New York, which also gained a bit of leverage in negotiations with free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira. Swisher was an attractive for a few other reasons, also: his ability to play multiple positions, on-base acumen and patience, skills the Yankees covet, and power.
Buying low is generally an effective strategy in baseball, and, for the price of Betemit, Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez, that is exactly what the Yankees were able to do. Considering what Swisher cost Chicago in the previous offseason, Brian Cashman picked up a player for pennies on the dollar. If Swisher never rebounded, the team could simply cut its losses and live with the fact that they did not offer up any high-ceiling prospects. Plus, the White Sox also sent along a decent relief pitching prospect in Kanekoa Texeira.
Looking back on it now, Cashman clearly did the right thing. Swisher had a fine bounce back during the regular season, batting .249/.371/.498 with 29 home runs and a 126 OPS+. As usual, he produced a stellar walk rate (16.3 %) but struck out a ton, going down on strikes in 25.5% of his plate appearances. His line drive rate actually regressed down to 16.3%, but the difference was a .26-point spike in BABIP.
While Swisher will never hit for a high batting average, it was more than anybody could have reasonably expected. With a .379 Weighted On-Base Average, he produced 24.2 runs above an average offensive performer On top of that, he was pretty much a league-average defender at three different positions—primarily in right field (-1.6 UZR). When factoring in batting, fielding and positional considerations, he was worth 3.7 Wins Above Replacement (WAR); that production translates to $16.5-M.
I, for one, feel that intangibles and being a positive influence in the clubhouse—if a player sucks but means that much as a role model to younger players, why not just make him a coach?—are overrated. Swisher, however, quickly became one of the most well-liked players in the New York locker room and deflected away attention from certain players/stories by acting as a constant spokesperson to the media. It is hard to believe that so many within the Chicago organization hated him as a person, or at least enough to simply throw him away so easily.
Swisher alone was worth more than any player sent to the White Sox, but the Yankees also received a nice campaign from Texeira. The 23-year-old right-hander logged 101.1 innings pitched over 41 appearances at Double-A, posting a 2.84 ERA and 3.69 FIP. He struck out 88 and registered rates of 7.82 K/9, 3.82 BB/9 and 0.62 HR/9. He should contribute at the highest level in the near future, pitching low-leverage situations at the least. For a throw-in, he was quite a coup; stocking up on cheap, young relievers and hoping a few work out is much more effective than paying big dollars for them.
For Chicago, the only two benefits appear to be cutting payroll (they would have been on the hook for $24-M, but, seeing what they did with Jake Peavy and Alex Rios, that is not all that great) and parting ways with a player who did not seem to fit in. The players in the return were all mostly disappointments.
Betemit gave Chicago nothing, posting a line of .200/.280/.311 with a 53 OPS+. He did not contribute a single home run and drove in three runs in 20 games. As a sub-optimal defender (he has been worth -24.5 runs below average during his career) in the infield, his value was essentially non-existent. Upon a demotion to the minors, he managed a putrid .734 OPS at Triple-A. Not surprisingly, he is now just another name on the minor league free agent list.
There was a lot of talk about how Marquez would become the next failed pitching prospect—the Sosnick-Cobbe client is perhaps the stereotypical over-hyped Yankee prospect—to be traded to the Windy City, develop a cutter and become an asset. Not so much.
Marquez posted a 9.85 ERA and 7.01 FIP in 45.2 innings pitched after making only 11 Triple-A starts. His peripherals—5.32 K/9, 4.34 BB/9, 2.36 HR/9—leave a lot to be desired. He is still young and has a live arm, but the centerpiece of the deal turned out to be an afterthought in year one.
Nunez, who will turn 25 in November, had a decent debut in the White Sox organization. He had success in the higher minors before earning a promotion to the show, where he made seven appearances. He is kind of a dime of dozen, though, and has limited upside as a reliever.
Clearly, Cashman was on the better end here. The Yankees are on fire right now, and, if they do go on to stay hot and win a title, a lot of attention will be centered on how Cashman was able to bring in A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and the other Teixeira. Clearly, those three players played more of a role in the Yankees’ success than Swisher. However, it did not take any creativity or thought to sign those players. Most people in that situation, with that money, would have done the same exact thing. Cashman earned his keep with this particular trade, though, and the Yankees are better off for his ability to make it happen.
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