Nick Swisher

[Dick Allen]

Just curious, but, who says his s*** doesn't stink? The only real positives people have been saying for him are his ability to get on base, his defense at 1B, and the attitude he brings to the clubhouse. I think those are all true positives for him. I think everyone is disappointed in his hitting.

Look at everyone defending his play. Does he get the same treatment on this board as Paulie, Thome, Crede, Uribe, Contreras, Dotel?

[NorthSideSox72]

No. I just don't understand the inconsistency. Thome was still getting on base when he was struggling. Go back and see what was written about him. Paulie gets bashed. Uribe has been written about needing to be released for years. Crede has started to get lambasted lately. Swisher has 0 hits on this roadtrip and a few strikeouts with men on base.

And every single one of those players has been thoroughly bashed on SoxTalk. We are an equal opportunity bash board.

 

[Harry Chappas]

And this is now, officially, the rant thread.

 

Anyway, I think you are overstating Anderson's value a good bit.

 

No I am not. He and Uribe have value is all I am saying yet they are dumped on for going 0-4. You look at the defensive miscues of this roadtrip wheather it is Fields, Swisher or Cabrerra and you see the need for the Uribe's and Anderson's of the world and how they can make a team better.

[dielac]

The ball doesn't seem to jump off Swishers bat, unless he's teeing off on a pitch. And we've seen plenty of his warning track power. Coming from Oakland to the Cell. I just think of PEDs. He almost just seems like "that" guy.

[Dick Allen]

And every single one of those players has been thoroughly bashed on SoxTalk. We are an equal opportunity bash board.

Yet Swisher goes 0 for Detroit and 0 for the roadtrip so far and there's a million excuses. He's playing out of position, proven to be false, he walks, then have him lead off. His strike outs are ignored, especially in big situations. He was great in June, but Uribe was great last September. Swisher isn't even hitting .200 the rest of the months combined, yet he's got to play firstbase. I say bunk. No other player could have the exact same season Swisher is having and get the slack he gets.

 

[DABearSoX]

I think Swisher is out of position and its taking away from his batting. Put him at 1st base and good things may happen.

 

JESUS CHRIST....you are f***ing ridiculous....

 

 

[NorthSideSox72]

The ball doesn't seem to jump off Swishers bat, unless he's teeing off on a pitch. And we've seen plenty of his warning track power. Coming from Oakland to the Cell. I just think of PEDs. He almost just seems like "that" guy.

I know this comes off badly, but, I would agree that is a concern with him.

 

And, I am starting to wonder about Paulie too. He's lost a lot of weight. Then again, he could have something else going on. This may sound weird, but, I almost wonder if he's got something physically wrong with him that we don't know about. A condition or illness of some kind. I think that may also be a possibility.

 

[BigSqwert]

People can try to find as many silver linings with Swisher as they want but he simply has sucked this year. Major disappointment.

[earthshiner]

I don't question Swishers effort or enthusiasm. I do wonder about Konerkos desire to win. Shouldn't he be at a boiling point? Shouldn't last night when he tagged the runner but was called safe have set him off? Can he stop crying after every out he makes. The difference between Konerko and Swish this year is passion.

[NorthSideSox72]

I don't question Swishers effort or enthusiasm. I do wonder about Konerkos desire to win. Shouldn't he be at a boiling point? Shouldn't last night when he tagged the runner but was called safe have set him off? Can he stop crying after every out he makes. The difference between Konerko and Swish this year is passion.

Have to disagree here. First, when the tag wasn't seen, he DID go off. Did you watch the game? Second, he's clearly very frustrated. I don't think anyone could miss that.

 

[Lemon_44]

let's face it,except for about 3-4 weeks for Swish, they have both stunk the whole year.

[earthshiner]

Have to disagree here. First, when the tag wasn't seen, he DID go off. Did you watch the game? Second, he's clearly very frustrated. I don't think anyone could miss that.

Maybe I was just expecting him to get tossed or something. And if you mean his act of acting frustrated and slumping down after every out shows he is frustrated then I disagree. He has been doing that for too many seasons for it to be more than just an act as routine as adjusting his batting gloves after every pitch.

[Dick Allen]

Let's just hope for all our sakes they both put their slumps behind them soon.

[Dick Allen]

One amazing number I saw was Swisher is hitting .170 with a .230 OBP on any AB were he falls behind 0-1. That's over 180 AB so it can't be blamed on sample size.

Edited July 29, 2008 by Dick Allen

[Chisoxfn]

Dick, I'll agree with you to an extent that as whole, I can't even think about consider Nick Swisher's season productive. He's hitting like s***, absolute s*** over the course of the entire season. He does play what I'd consider a premium defensive position (C/SS/CF are the three premium defensive positions) and does an admirable job out in CF (clearly he's not what Juan was defensively).

 

Still, Swishers offensive numbers are better than Uribe's, but thats like saying one midget is taller than another. He's improved as the season has progressed but he's a horrendous clutch hitter (my eyes have told me that, but I assume the stats back it up).

[DABearSoX]

I don't question Swishers effort or enthusiasm. I do wonder about Konerkos desire to win. Shouldn't he be at a boiling point? Shouldn't last night when he tagged the runner but was called safe have set him off? Can he stop crying after every out he makes. The difference between Konerko and Swish this year is passion.

 

*Look at your avatar....

[TCQ]

Funny thing is that Uribe is a GG caliber player at the most important position on the team. His third base defense would be GG without a doubt.

 

If you don't sing and dance and unnecessarily run into walls, forget about you.

 

Anderson and Uribe add more to a team but because the press isn't blowing them, they get no respect at all. If Anderson was given the opportunity that Swisher has this season, the Sox would be a better team but the commercials and dugout highlites wouldn't be all that entertaining. s*** Reed Johnson is a poor man's Brian Anderson and he is loved by the cubbie nation...I know the stats don't show this but given the opportunity, Anderson would be.

 

Christ, Jermaine needs to put MVP stats to get any type of recognition yet he has been one of the better hitting outfielders in the game while he has been here and possibly could be the most unappreciated Sox player in history or at least since Dick Allen or Albert Belle and no I am not joking.

 

Where is the Greg Walker / Jim Thome love in regard to a new appraoch to going the opposite way. In the 8th inning Sunday he adjusted his swing to go to left and drove in two runs because of it, yet no new thread praising this. Thome needed to adjust and he has, now Swisher and Konerko need to do something. Thome understands what he needs to do and appears to be doing it unfortuately there is nobody behind him until they get to Ramirez. Why and the hell he is still batting 9th is beyond me.

 

Isnt it ironic that this thread was started to ask about swisher love, and i again see this unfounded uribe at third love. Yes he has the arm for it but he has two errors in only 4 games, plus a bonehead play he made the other day iirc. Everyone thinks he can play third but prior to this year where his d has been less than stellar he hadnt played there since he played 19 games there in 04. Wheres all this uribe love coming from? (Sorry to kinda go off topic didnt want to start a whole new thread on this and its partially relevent)

[Dick Allen]

Isnt it ironic that this thread was started to ask about swisher love, and i again see this unfounded uribe at third love. Yes he has the arm for it but he has two errors in only 4 games, plus a bonehead play he made the other day iirc. Everyone thinks he can play third but prior to this year where his d has been less than stellar he hadnt played there since he played 19 games there in 04. Wheres all this uribe love coming from? (Sorry to kinda go off topic didnt want to start a whole new thread on this and its partially relevent)

Uribe+love+soxtalk.com=Not never

[thedoctor]

it's a proven fact that sox fans love white guys with creative facial hair.

[greg775]

People can try to find as many silver linings with Swisher as they want but he simply has sucked this year. Major disappointment.

 

I agree. Swisher is lucky he plays in an era where every stat is monitored. He'd have been run out of town back in the day when batting average was the biggest stat for a hitter and not on base percentage. The guy's batting average is a joke. But he draws walks so some will slobber over him all season. It's an unwinnable argument for Dick. I agree with everything Dick Allen has been saying about Swish. And yes Konerko has been equally bad or worse. Paulie's home run totals are so low it does indicate something is way wrong. I still say he should bat eighth the rest of the year or be traded for a change of scenery , not booed. Somebody who has time on their hands should compare Swisher's stats to his dad's. Steve Swisher couldn't hit either. I wonder if Steve also drew a lot of walks.

[NorthSideSox72]

it's a proven fact that sox fans love white guys with creative facial hair.

I think you just solved Konerko's slump - he needs some goofy facial hair.

 

[thedoctor]

I think you just solved Konerko's slump - he needs some goofy facial hair.

 

heck yeah, mix in a pink goatee or something. it just might work.

 

seriously, though, swisher has been a disappointment in my eyes. i remember some predictions over how his power numbers were going to shoot up once he started playing in the cell. that clearly hasn't happened.

 

at this point it also looks like we overpaid ridiculously for him. which is fine. considering the quentin and ramirez deals kw's still at a net gain for last offseason, imo.

[lostfan]

If Swisher could hit .260 on the year I would be fine with his production with the walks he draws. No, I've never been cool with batting averages that would get most guys DFA'd. I don't think anybody besides the most devout sabermetric geeks actually is, either. So I'm not sure where people are getting the impression that a majority of Sox fans are in love with Swisher. People who think this season is an anomaly maybe and that he'll start hitting more maybe, but that's all I can think of.

 

Also I guess I'll go on record as saying that I'm not one of the people who thinks BA is a meaningless stat.

[greg775]

You think we got hosed on the Swisher deal now? Didn't we trade Sweeney he of the .310 batting average and Gio for him?

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Swisher has easily been the biggest disappointment on this team in my mind. He's been garbage for 3/4 of the year and when he has hit well it's really only been at home. He needs to get his f***ing ass out of his head because his crazy, loose, zany clubhouse guy routine is just annoying when he's not producing.

Completely agree.

 

I wonder what else we could have gotten with a Gio-DLS-Sweeney package last offseason. I mean even if we don't make any moves and put Sweeney out in CF we have a better player.

 

Swisher was the big acquisition of the offseason and he's been horrific. I don't give a s*** about his attitude either. He seems like a great guy, but if we wanted a great guy who couldn't hit we might as well have brought back Grinderstad.

 

Edit: I have to say though, at the time of the deal I was mostly in favor of it. I didn't like the idea of trading our two top pitching prospects, both with high ceilings, without getting a better SP back. But, I thought Swish moving to the Cell away from all that foul territory and also getting protection in the lineup was going to really help him a ton and he would reach new heights as a player. Hopefully that's still in the cards, but up to this point he's been a massive disappointment.

Edited July 29, 2008 by Kenny Hates Prospects