Stop hating Nick Swisher!

Haters gonna Hate

 Stop Hating Nick Swisher. There is a phrase I never thought I would have to utter but seriously people stop it. All I keep hearing is how Swisher is a great guy and great clubhouse personality, but he isn't a good enough player. Really people? After another poor postseason some have advocated that the Yankees should dump Nick Swisher. The most popular idea seems to be that the Yankees should decline Swisher's option and sign Carlos Beltran to play RF. This is a terrible idea for several reasons:
1.) Beltran is 34
2.) Beltran would command at least 3 years
3.) Would need to DH significantly.
4.) The 2012 Free agent class is awesome


The first and second reasons are pretty tied together, but I mean come on would you really want to sign an older declining veteran for three years? When Beltran has productive years he has been very productive, but he has had some trouble staying healthy only playing more than 150 games 3 times in the last 9 years. Also for all the talk about how Beltran would be more productive than Swisher in the postseason, he hasn't actually played in the postseason since 2006 and his only other time in the postseason was with Houston in 2004. Also one of the benefits of Nick Swisher is that he will only be under contract for one more year and if he isn't productive then we can cut him lose but Beltran would command at least a 3 year deal and possibly 4 years which would probably force him into more of a DH role in the last year or two of his contract which would be a problem with the already crowded DH role.
The other big factor is that the 2012 Free agent class is going to have some big names with Josh Hamilton, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and B.J Upton highlighting the Free agent Outfield class. All of these free agents are better than Beltran in terms of age and are not he injury risk that Beltran is.

Also people really don't appreciate Nick Swisher for his regular season production. In his Three years as a Yankee Swisher had hit 81 Home Runs and has been very productive as a Yankee with a .267 BA with 250 walks and 256 RBI's. Nick Swisher isn't just with the Yankees cause he has a pretty face hes been a solid hitter with power, patience and has gotten better in the field. This may not be the reason but also who do you think will be the number one suitor for Nick Swisher if we decline his option? The Red Sox, they need a Right fielder and he is better than everyone else out there with the possible exception of a Healthy Carlos Beltran. Some People have suggested that the Yankees should sign Josh Willingham, but they are surprisingly similar in terms of career stats and Willingham has never played more than 144 games in a season and he only player 96 games in the outfield this year. Swisher on the other hand has played exactly 150 games each of the last three years for the Yankees and despite all the criticism his overall value during his time as a Yankee ranks 7th among Right Fielders and Swisher is a consistent 3+ WAR player and even in this down year for Sisher he has a higher WAR rating than Michael Cuddyer who had a career high 3 WAR year, so please forget about that idea.
The end result is that there really isn't anyone at Swisher level for this year other than Carlos Beltran and as I said before Beltran is probably going to be looking for a 3 or 4 year deal as it will be his last big payday. The Yankees have a cheap option for Swisher who has outperformed his salary in each of the last 3 seasons by far and 2012 will likely be no different. As Fans we always want the best players for our team, but you need to appreciate Nick Swisher for the quality player he is and honestly their is  good chance he will be with the team for the next several years as he would make a great stopgap player while the prospects develop in the minors. Also think of it this way, if Nick Swisher slumped in any other 5 game time period would you want the Yankees to not renew his option because of that 5 game period?