Sigh. I don't need to "find an excuse" for Swisher. His performance really doesn't need much in the way of excuses. He's been a damn good hitter for the Yankees this year. How you choose to judge this is up to you... I'll choose to judge it by his ability to get on base and drive the ball (since those are repeatable skills that translate to runs more consistently than anything else)... and that puts him as the third best hitter (tied) on the team. These stats aren't used because they're just pretty numbers. They have strong correlations to how teams/offenses score their runs. And Nady is not a good defender. At all. I don't know where you're getting this from. Nady's career UZR: -14.6 Swisher career UZR: +3.6 Again, you see variance and you scream "PATTERN!" Settle down. Let it play out.
No. Sorry to harp on this, but it's an important point. I don't "believe what I like." "What I like" has nothing to do with what I believe. What I believe is what the objective information tells us. I compare that information to any additional, more subjective information that may be available. If they match up, that strengthens the information. If not, maybe I'll reserve judgment. But in this particular case, it's not even close... which is why I haven't been "finding an excuse" for Swisher. It's so not even close that I feel comfortable to say this: If you want the Yankees to win ballgames and get to the playoffs, you better hope and pray that Swisher isn't replaced by Melky.
my whole point, by the way, about Swisher in right every day is that I think hes a clown out there. I also realize we have no replacement because Cashman is a clown. As far as his bat goes hes very, very streaky. And when hes sucking, he looks like a minor leaguer
No, right... I get that. What I'm saying is that it's not really correct. He's not "a clown" out there. He's typically been above average at the corner OF position. We've seen some weirdness from him this year, but I don't find that to be typical. Again, shit happens, and these things even out. And his bat might have been "very, very streaky" this season, but that's not something you predict, nor is it something you expect from him. That's not what you'd call typical Swisher. And even so, as sucky has he was in May, he was still getting on base at a semi-decent clip. So you've got a guy who, when he's playing his absolute worst, is still on base over 30% of the time.
There was something messed up with mound and the grounds crew had to come out and fix it. So CC had to stand and wait.
