Yanks say Swish not being shopped, obviously

November 20, 2009 by Benjamin Kabak 37 Comments

Yesterday afternoon, a low-level rumor by Bob Nightengale concerning the Yanks’ reportedly making Nick Swisher available took the Internet by storm, and we debunked and contextualized it. Late last night, one of George A. King III’s Yankee sources denied the rumor and said that Swisher isn’t being “shopped.” Of course, he’s not being shopped, but as I said yesterday, if the right offer comes around, he’s available. Nick Swisher is definitely not untradeable.

JM

And this rumor was made up because………….. Oh, by the way, CC declined the Yankees offer.
- http://www.secondavenuesagas.com Benjamin Kabak
  
  There’s a difference between “shopped” and “available.” I don’t think the rumor was made up, but the Yanks will obviously deny it.
JMK aka The Overshare

Here’s my question: If Swisher were to be available, what would the Yankees be looking for in return? The infield is set, starting rotation seems to be pretty secure (assuming Andy re-signs). Why would they trade him for a reliever when they have internal options and could simply spend money on FA. Trading Swisher for an outfielder may plug a hole in left or center, but would similarly open another in Right.

Prospects then?

Seriously, I’m genuinely curious. What would the Yanks want for Swisher?
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  I doubt it even rose to that level of strategic planning at all.
  
  There was no plan for what to do with the RF void that would be created when Swisher was traded away, because the team never truly contemplated trading Swisher away.
  
  It was just one of those “If an offer comes along that blows us away for Swisher, then obviously we’d have to consider it and then start planning for what our roster would look like without him.”
  
  In a related story, I have no idea what my life would be like without sex, but if someone were to come along and give me 10 million dollars in exchange for me becoming celibate, I’d THEN start to contemplate what my life would be like without sex.
  - JMK aka The Overshare
    
    Your point is well taken—I’m aware it’s not a serious consideration and there is no strategic planning to it as such, so hypothesizing and throwing around hypotheticals is a fruitless endeavor but…it’s the off-season, why not throw a stupid/fun idea around?
    
    What would be a reasonable trade for Swisher considering the Yankees’ current roster construction, farm systems, financial flexibility and needs if they were to trade him?
    - http://kyivpost.img.com.ua/img/forall/a/355/5.jpg Rose
      
      Well it would all depend on that “if” and what the scenario is. If you’re saying he’s expendable and our outfield, DH, everything is all set…then you could trade him for a very good set up guy, a #3-4 starter type, a package of above-average prospects…it all depends on how other teams value him…the Yankees can value him as highly as they want…but if another team doesn’t value him the same way…that’s all that matters.
- http://kyivpost.img.com.ua/img/forall/a/355/5.jpg Rose
  
  He’s available…but so isn’t anyone. They’re not shopping him, which is exactly what this thread says.
  
  We have a hole in LF and DH at the moment. Trading Nick Swisher (in RF) only opens up yet another hole. It never made any sense…but if somebody were to offer something ridiculous…the Yankees would consider it. What would it be? Who knows? But it’s not going to happen so it’s not even worth thinking about right now.
  - JMK aka The Overshare
    
    Why isn’t it worth thinking about? I know it will never happen. So what? I’m not going to screw Beyonce in an Autozone outfit while listening to Justin Bieber’s “One Time.” That doesn’t mean it’s not worth thinking about.
    
    No need to be so rigid. It’s a dumb hypothetical; don’t treat it as a serious discussion I think is even .001% likely to happen.
    - http://kyivpost.img.com.ua/img/forall/a/355/5.jpg Rose
      
      Whoa…simmer down now…I wasn’t trying to be rigid dude…just saying that it’s probably not going to happen so it’s not exactly necessary to talk about right now. If you think it is…that’s entirely fine…that’s the beauty of America though…you can like doing one thing and I can like doing another. It’s nice ain’t it? lol
      - Bo
        
        You two need to get a room in every thread.
        
        http://kyivpost.img.com.ua/img/forall/a/355/5.jpg Rose
        
        You two need to get a room in every thread.
        
        You seem pretty eager to get us into a room in every thread.
        
        And just for a note…I haven’t had many conversations with JMK at all…
        
        Which adds to the creepiness of your request.
        
        http://www.riveraveblues.com Joseph Pawlikowski
        
        Bo and Lanny need to get a room.
        
        http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
        
        Maybe Sal and Grant have some room in theirs.
        
        ROBTEN
        
        Bo and Lanny in the same room? (SFW)
Ellis

When’s the last time the Yanks traded a regular? the last one I can remember is Soriano for A-Rod…
- JMK aka The Overshare
  
  Sheff to the Tigers?
  - http://www.secondavenuesagas.com Benjamin Kabak
    
    Yep. Sheffield was the last regular traded mid-contract. Although, by the time he was traded, he had already been replaced by Abreu.
  - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
    
    Sheff wasn’t really a regular at that point. We’d already traded for Abreu for RF, and Damon and Matsui were at LF and DH.
    
    Sheff was a man without a position, which is why he was moonlighting as a first baseman.
    - JMK aka The Overshare
      
      True. He’d been wandering around at that point, so he can’t be considered a “true” regular. Outside of his marginal regularity status, it would have to be Soriano, I suppose.
    - http://www.workwithpete.com Pete
      
      >> Sheff was a man without a position, which is why he was moonlighting as a first baseman. >>
      
      Ugh, just had a nauseating flashback to the 2006 ALDS.
  - Ellis
    
    so, was the last one really Soriano for A-Rod? I guess we very rarely trade regulars, and that’s why the yankeeverse is up-in-arms about Swish being “available”.
- pat
  
  In Torre World Scott Proctor was an everyday player.
  - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
    
    Touché.
http://kyivpost.img.com.ua/img/forall/a/355/5.jpg Rose

This was the exact reason I made my “controversial” post yesterday. Everybody is always available for the right price. So “breaking” a story saying that some random player is available is, in all actuality, not news at all. If he were in fact being “shopped” around…that’s an entirely different story.

At the end of the day…the story wasn’t even a story at all…but a bored reporter who decided to mock fans who don’t understand what’s standard in baseball. He wasn’t lying about anything…but he cleverly spun it so it sounded as though it were really a “breaking” story.
- http://threequarters.cementhorizon.com/archives/kool%20aid%20man.bmp The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  I assume you mean this comment?
  - http://threequarters.cementhorizon.com/archives/kool%20aid%20man.bmp The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
    
    My bad, this one: http://riveraveblues.com/2009/11/what-it-means-to-make-a-player-available-20194/#comment-691508
  - http://threequarters.cementhorizon.com/archives/kool%20aid%20man.bmp The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
    
    Just go get this on the record, what you just said in your comment above at 1:45 is not what you said in the comment I think you’re referring to from yesterday as if it’s somehow now vindicated by this post.
    
    Your comment yesterday (quoted in its entirety below) had nothing to do with the reporter breaking the story and whether the story is actual ‘news,’ it was instead about whether the Yanks should be actively fielding offers on Swisher.
    
    “But if they’re currently looking to fill RF (or CF) and the DH spot…it doesn’t make sense to field offers for the one spot in the outfield that’s seemingly a lock down. I mean, you can field offers for whoever and whenever you want…but there are more important things to address…it could be a complete waste of time in most aspects.”
Evil Empire

But…but…but…I was just about to finish my Nick Swisher, Ian Kennedy, and Kei Igawa for Tim Lincecum trade idea!!!
- http://kyivpost.img.com.ua/img/forall/a/355/5.jpg Rose
  
  You could call up Sabean a year from now and he’d still be rolling on the floor laughing about that one…
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  Don’t bother. Now that Lincecum is a back-to-back Cy Young winner headed for a mammoth arbitration raise, the Giants are very motivated to sell him off before he becomes cost-prohibitive.
  
  Unfortunately for the Yankees, my sources tell me the Red Sox are currently the frontrunners to land him. Boston is planning on resigning Brad Penny (whom the Giants have familiarity with following his stint there to end the 2009 season) and then trading him right back to the Giants for Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval straight up, who has a “Smoak-type” bat that Theo thinks can play at shortstop. The only thing holding up the deal is how much money the Giants will be able to throw in.
  
  For Diamond Cutters, I’m Peter Gammons, ESPN.
  - Evil Empire
    
    Breaking news:
    
    Dave Dombrowski and Theo Epstein working closely on a straight Miguel Cabrera for Lars Anderson swap!
- Steve H
  
  It’s Melky and IPK, always……
vin

My guess is this is probably how the thing got started:

Desperate reporter (BN) phones one of his Yankee contacts(NYY).
BN – Anything new you can share with me?
NYY – Nope, just getting ready for the winter meetings and such.
BN – Any free agents you guys are talking about?
NYY – Well, we will talk about all our options when the time is right.
BN – Anyone on the trading block?
NYY – On the BLOCK? No.
::BN senses there might be something::
BN – OK, maybe not ON THE BLOCK, but some guys ARE AVAILABLE,no?
NYY – Sure, I guess. But, we will talk about all our options when the time is right.
BN – So if someone came to you and asked about, oh I don’t know… Nick Swisher, you would be amenable to trading him?
NYY – In theory… I suppose.
BN – K-THX-BYE
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  Bob Nightengale = mryankee
Bo

Every player is shopped this time of yr. Otherwise a GM isnt doing his job.
- http://kyivpost.img.com.ua/img/forall/a/355/5.jpg Rose
  
  http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Politics/Images/to-do-list-nothing.jpg (SAFE)
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