Kuzul

If there’s one team that has history, it’s the New York Yankees. For over 100 years, a myriad of players have passed through New York, many of which have ended up in the Hall of Fame. However, while fans give all of their attention to the Jeters, Mantles, and DiMaggios, many forget the effective players who put up great numbers, but stayed out of the spotlight. That being said, I’m giving you readers a list of the 10 most underrated Yankees of the past 20 years!

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Nick Swisher, the New York Yankees outfielder, will be off the market this weekend when he marries actress Joanna Garcia on Saturday at the Breakers Hotel & Resort in Palm Beach.

“She is my princess. I just could not be more happy,” Swisher told Page Six last month.  “It’s just so great to have your best friend with you throughout everything good and everything bad.”

Get to know more about the beautiful Joanna right here.

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Nick Swisher: New York Yankees Star Weds TV Star Joanna Garcia

Nick Swisher of the New York Yankees will wed his fiance Joanna Garcia this weekend in Palm Beach, Florida.

Swisher and Garcia have been engaged since May, and according to NYDailyNews.com, this will be quite a large wedding with about 375 guests.

You may recognize Joanna Garcia from television shows such as Reba, Privileged and Better With You. She has also made appearances on How I Met Your Mother and Gossip Girl.

Reba McEntire, Jamie Lynn Sigler and Lance Bass are all expected to be in attendance. 

Stay tuned for all the latest news about Nick and Joanna’s big day!

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Courtesy of Yankees ‘n More

It has been widely reported that the New York Yankees have engaged in talks with free agent Carl Crawford because they consider him a potential “plan B” should they fail to sign the apple of their eye, pitcher Cliff Lee.

What has not been mentioned at all, however, is the possibility that New York might also be considering the speedy outfielder as a “plan B” should Andy Pettitte decide to retire.

And why wouldn’t they?

If Crawford really is considered a backup plan in the event that Lee doesn’t sign on, why on earth wouldn’t he be just as good a backup plan—if not better—in the event that Pettitte decides to retire?—And by the way, it’s sounding more and more as if that is exactly what Andy Pettitte intends to do.

Think about it.

The thought behind Crawford serving as a “plan B” for Lee was that the Yankees would take the majority of the money set aside for the lefty ace and give it to Crawford, then use one of their current outfielders—most likely Nick Swisher or Curtis Granderson—to acquire a starting pitcher.

If Pettitte calls it a career, the Yankees are still one pitcher short of a rotation even IF they sign Lee.

However, they would be in better shape—who wouldn’t rather have Lee than Pettitte next year, given the option?

The Yankees could then deal one of their outfielders—we’re betting on Swisher—for a starting pitcher to fill in at the 4-hole behind CC Sabathia, Lee and Phil Hughes.

The money the team was ready to pay to Pettitte—at least $12 million—combined with Swisher’s 2011 salary—$9.1 million—would easily cover the salary for Crawford.

And don’t forget, Crawford is a guy the Yankees—especially Cashman—have pined over for YEARS now, and he’s EXACTLY the type of player—super athletic, fast, great defense—the Yankees GM has been targeting in the post-PED era.

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To be clear, in no way do I think the New York Yankees and Derek Jeter will part ways. He’s been the face of the franchise for over a decade, free from controversy, and a consistent performer.

The Yankees want and need him back. Only Miguel Tejeda and Orlando Cabrera would be adequate free agent replacements if you ask me. Followed by Jhonny Peralta and Juan Uribe, if they want to get a bit younger at the position.

Derek Jeter wants to be back. Anywhere else in the league, his value is diminished. A lot of Jeter’s value is based on those pinstripes, not what he actually does on the field. And without Mark Teixeira at first base, his error total would skyrocket. Added to his age, he’d soon be relegated to DH on another team. 

The fans want him back. Enough said!

I don’t think the Yankees would name a new captain if Jeter leaves. But let’s pretend the world ends and Jeter does find another team to play for.  Who would take over as a leader and/or captain for the Yankees?

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The 2010 baseball season may be over, but for major leaguers like New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher, the work never stops.

I had a chance to sit down with Nick at the Art of Shaving Shop and Barber Spa in Glendale, California, where he was getting a clean shave to promote Movember, a month-long moustache-growing event to raise awareness and money for men’s health charities.

We talked baseball, shaving, and the best moustaches in the game.  Read on to see what Swish had to say.

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With the New York Yankees officially eliminated from postseason play, it’s time to take a look at some of the moves they will make in the offseason.

One of the potential moves that has been swirling around the rumor mill here in New York is that the Yankees may look to trade Nick Swisher.

The thought process here is that the Yankees would trade Swisher in order to sign either Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford, who are both free agents. It makes sense, as I would rather have either Werth or Crawford over Swisher any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

If the Yankees were to trade Swisher, there are sure to be some suitors. Let’s take a look at the pros, the cons and which teams would be interested in the former Ohio State Buckeye.

Pros

Statistics aside, Swisher is a great addition to any clubhouse. He is a classic glue guy, and when you hear teammates talk about Swisher in interviews, they can’t say enough about how Swisher brings a positive vibe to the team.

Now on to the statistics.

If a GM is a fan of Moneyball, then Swisher is his guy. Swisher is a base on balls machine, and has finished in the top six in walks four of the past five seasons.

Swisher also has very good power. He has hit 20-plus HRs in each of his first six full seasons in the major leagues.

For those of you who think Swisher’s revival in a Yankee uniform is a product of Yankee Stadium, it’s not. Swisher played in 75 games each home and away and hit .287/.356/.498 with 15 HRs at home and .290/.363/.524 with 14 HRs on the road.

Swisher has one year and $9 million remaining on his contract with a $10.25 million club option for 2012. For the Yankees, that’s like having a guy on the team making the league minimum, but for any other team, it’s a fair contract.

He has earned $15.75 million over the last two years, and according to FanGraphs he has been around $31 million worth of value to the Yankees over that time period.

His deal is not the most team-friendly in the league, but it’s not an albatross either.

Cons

The 2010 season marked a change in Swisher’s overall approach at the plate. He saw a seven percent drop in his BB percentage from 2009 (16 to 9.1), but in turn he saw his batting average increase by almost 40 points from 2009 (.249 to .288).

However, while his batting average increase may look impressive at first, Swisher was aided by an almost unsustainable .335 BABIP.

So if you think about it, if Swisher isn’t walking as much and chances are he won’t be as lucky in 2011 as he was in 2010, then you are looking at a player that will resemble his first full year with the Oakland A’s (.236/.322/.446) more than the player with the Yankees the last two years.

One of the main reasons the Yankees have been rumored to have soured on Swisher is because of his poor postseason play. For the second year in a row, Swisher was dreadful in the postseason, and for his career he is a .162 hitter over 33 playoff games. Numbers like that don’t cut the mustard in Yankee land.

Lastly, Swisher is a terrible defensive player. Having watched him over the past two seasons on a regular basis, most fly balls to right are an adventure.

Swisher is leaning towards being a DH, but a good team can get away with putting him at right or first for a full season.

Now that we have looked at the pros and cons of the soon to be 30-year-old, let’s take a look at who might be interested in Swisher this offseason…

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers have plenty of holes to fill and plenty of money to spend. The Tigers will not pick up Magglio Ordonez‘s $15 million option in 2011, and if Detroit and Ordonez can’t agree on a way to bring him back, Swisher could be an alternative in right.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Hideki Matsui is a free agent, and if the Angels decide not to bring him back, Swisher could be an option at DH. The Angels could also decide to put Bobby Abreu at DH and move Swisher to left field.

Seattle Mariners

I don’t see the Mariners picking up the $9 million on Swisher’s contract, but the Mariners are really desperate for offense and can use all the help they can get. They could use Swisher at first base as a stopgap until Justin Smoak is ready for prime time, or as a replacement for Milton Bradley at the DH spot if the Mariners decide not to keep him around.

Atlanta Braves

The Braves recently cut former Yankee Melky Cabrera, so perhaps they want to try their hand at Swisher. The Braves need outfield help, and Swisher could fill a hole in left field.

Troy Glaus and Derrek Lee are both free agents, and if the Braves feel Freddie Freeman isn’t ready yet, they could look at Swisher for first base in 2011.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs probably need to unload salaries, not take them on, but they really don’t have a first baseman or right fielder at this point, and Swisher, a Midwest guy, wouldn’t be a bad choice to fill either of those holes.

Kosuke Fukudome isn’t the answer in right, and Xavier Nady isn’t the answer at first. Tyler Colvin could be the answer at first but has never done so at the professional level.

San Diego Padres

The Padres had one of the worst-hitting outfields in baseball in 2010. In 2011, the Padres will have Ryan Ludwick in right and will need a better option in left than Will Venable or Scott Hairston. Swisher could be that guy.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Let me start by saying congratulations to the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers are the ALCS Champions and well deserve to be just that after winning Game 6 against the New York Yankees, 6-1.

It is a first World Series appearance for the Texas Rangers organization. Texas will face either the Philadelphia Phillies or the San Francisco Giants, who are still battling it out in the NLCS.

After dominating the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS, the Yankees had eight days off till the ALCS started down in Texas.

The Yankees could have won this series, but you have to play baseball in order to win.

Let’s look at the three factors, hitting, pitching and managing for the Yankees in the postseason to figure out what happened:

1) Hitting, a word that became unfamiliar to the Yankee batters. If you do not score runs, you will not win ball games. Maybe if a team had Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, The Freak or CC Sabathia in the same rotation, you could afford not to hit, but even that Cy Young foursome would lose a game or two.

A-Rod continued his horrible 2010 postseason, coming into Game 6 with three hits in 17 at-bats, with a .176 batting average. Last year, A-Rod hit six home runs, batting a .365 over 15 postseason games. His slump was a HUGE problem and reason the Yankees struggled so much.

It’s not as if the rest of the Yankees were much help anyway. Swisher’s batting average was .194 and Teixeira (pre-injury) was even worse, hitting .148 in the postseason. Both regular season sluggers lost their swagger completely for the second postseason in a row.

2) Shockingly, the pitching was second to the hitting, because if you can’t score runs, the game is over no matter who is on the mound. Otherwise, the pitching was almost as terrible as the batting, following the ALDS where the pitching was phenomenal.

Sabathia got the job done winning both his ALCS starts, even though he grinded in both games against Texas. CC is an ace and that is why he gets the title. Sabathia had an ERA of 5.63 over 16 innings and struck-out 15 batters. The Yankees won all three games CC started, which is the only stat that matters in the post season.

As usual, Pettitte came through enormously posting a 2.57 ERA over 14 innings, striking out nine and only allowing one walk in his two postseason starts. He was 1-1 because Cliff Lee beat him in Game 4, but once again, the Yankees didn’t hit and back-up Pettitte’s performance.

The bullpen of Kerry Wood, Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain all did a solid job. Robertson and Mitre were a mess, shocker. Robertson is usually a go-to-middle reliever because he has been so successful the last two years, but Mitre should never be allowed in Yankee Stadium again.

Girardi needs to go see a shrink in the offseason for the separation issues he seems to have with Mitre, who he coached as a Florida Marlin. Whatever it is, nobody wants to ever see Mitre on the mound again.

The starting pitching in the ALCS was not as dominate as the ALDS at all. Blame it on the eight days off between games or maybe Joe Girardi’s managing calls, but the starters looked rattled. Sometimes it got painful to watch as a fan because you know how good they can be or usually are.

Pitching posted a record of 5-4, with a 5.01 ERA, giving up 44 earned runs, 32 walks and 63 strikeouts during the 2010 postseason. Those numbers will not get you though the postseason, Yankees or not.

3) Skipper Joe Girardi had New York fans questioning—excuse me, criticizing—his every move over the last two weeks. When any sports team loses, the manager or coach always gets blamed, but in all essence, Girardi is a good manager. The Yankees won the World Series in 2009 and made it to the ALCS this season.

The only move Girardi made that made absolutely no sense happened in Game 6 of the ALCS. Hughes was the starter, and though it was not the smoothest performance, he had held the Rangers to one earned run through the fourth inning. He walked Josh Hamilton for the second time, which I would have done too.

Vladimir Guerrero was up next and the aging DH is still a risk but not even close in comparison to Hamilton. Vald knocked the ball over Granderson’s head for a double and two runs score. I hoped Girardi would let Hughes get the last out to finish the fifth inning, but knew that was a pipe dream when it comes to Girardi.  

Guerrero’s hit only made the score 3-1, which is still manageable. Hughes had been throwing a lot of pitches, but he held the Rangers and that is his job. The bigger mistake was when he replaced Hughes with Dave Robertson instead of Kerry Wood.

Robertson had struggled all postseason, and it would seem only logical to put your best reliever out there to hold the score. Instead. by the time Robertson got the one out needed to end the inning. he had allowed a home run and three earned runs, leaving the score 6-1 entering the sixth inning. It drove me nuts that Girardi pulled Hughes, but to put in Robertson was irrational and just plain out stupid.

Well, now the Yankees and their fans will watch another team be crowned World Champions. It sucks to lose, but a true Champion would come back ready to win even more in 2011.

Overall, great season once again for my New York Yankees and can’t wait for next season.

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The Texas Rangers lost their first ever game when attempting to clinch a pennant. On an overcast day at Yankee Stadium, it was the Yankees who fought off elimination, bringing out the bats against C.J. Wilson. This game went the Yankees’ way, the same way it had gone the Rangers’ way over the last three games.

It’s not as if the Rangers couldn’t hit CC Sabathia—they just couldn’t come through in the clutch, and after some home runs by New York, it was a 7-2 defeat for Texas in Game 5 of the ALCS.

Tomorrow will be an off-day in the series, as it shifts back to Arlington for a Game 6 on Friday and potentially Game 7 on Saturday.

The Rangers are still in the driver’s seat with Cliff Lee ready for a one-and-done Game 7 if needed.

Here’s a report card for the Rangers, breaking down what went wrong in their loss on Wednesday.

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After the 10-3 shelling that the New York Yankees took at the hands of the Texas Rangers in the “House that George Built,” one can’t help but begin to worry. What began in game one with the exception of an offensive outburst in one inning has only steadily gotten worse through the first four games.

Is this really what a payroll in excess of $200 million looks like?

It’s not like the Yankees are losing close games. They have let a Texas Ranger team with almost no postseason experience outside of Cliff Lee make them look like amateurs.

Rewind only six months ago and the New York Yankees were coming off of their record 27th World Series title and looked primed to defend it. At the same time, the Texas Rangers were dealing with bankruptcy issues and a manager who was involved in a scandal involving his cocaine use.

My how things have changed throughout the course of the season. To the Rangers’ credit, they didn’t let the off-field issue distract them and even went out and picked up super-ace Cliff Lee just as the Yankees were primed to add him to their roster.

But even with all the success that Texas had throughout the regular season and against the Tampa Bay Rays in the divisional series, how many people were really expecting these Rangers to compete with the Bronx Bombers?

Through the first four games, not only have they competed, but they’ve dominated. After losing game one 6-5 in Arlington, the Rangers have outscored the Yankees 25-5. The powerful Yankees offense has been pedestrian. Outside of Andy Pettitte, their high priced pitching staff has looked average.

With the exception of Robinson Cano’s incredible .467 average, no other Yankee has an average higher than .286. In fact, the entire team is hitting a paltry .198.

Compare that with the Rangers’ lineup that has managed to hit .307 as a team. Six of the Rangers’ nine offensive starters are hitting over .300 for the series. Of those nine, only Ian Kinsler is batting lower than .286.

New York has not only been beaten on the scoreboard. They’ve also looked old and tired. They don’t seem to have the fire of the 2009 team that brought home that 27th World Series championship. In the eighth inning with the bases loaded when a pitch appeared to hit Nick Swisher‘s foot, Joe Girardi didn’t even make an argument.

Even before the eighth inning, many of the seats began to empty after the Texas took a 7-3 lead in the seventh. By the time the Rangers put up their final three runs in the top of the ninth inning, the stands began to look like an early season afternoon Tampa Bay-Kansas City game at Tropicana field. It certainly didn’t look like Game 4 of the American League Championship series.

With C.C. Sabathia heading to the mound in this afternoon’s game five in the Bronx, it’s make or break time for the Yankees. There is no tomorrow. Pitching on short rest, he gives New York by far their best chance to pickup a win and take the series back to Texas.

If New York is going to pick up a game five win today, they will have to do it without Mark Teixeira, who left Tuesday night’s game with a strained hamstring and is finished for the remainder of the season. Of course, Tex hadn’t been doing much anyway on offense after going 0-14 with three walks through the first four games.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, it may be too little too late. Even it they were to reel off two consecutive victories, Cliff Lee is set to start game seven in Arlington; not exactly a matchup with good odds.

However, baseball is a funny game. Things can change quicker than a C.C. Sabathia fastball. Just like last week when nearly everyone was counting the Rangers out, the court of public opinion is now certifying the Yankees all but dead. We all know how that has turned out so far.

There are some things one should always do in their life—love your wife, never bet the house, and don’t ever count out the New York Yankees. If Sabathia comes out tonight and pitches like he’s capable of, and the Yankee bats finally come out of hibernation, the momentum could quickly turn back into the Yankee’s favor.

With all of that experience in the New York dugout compared to that of the Rangers, a change in momentum might be the only chance the Yankees have left.

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