Although the always-energetic Nick Swisher never made it back to the majors after signing a minors pact with the Yankees in 2016, he’ll end up contributing to the team in a different way. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com writes in the second half of a piece for MLB.com. “Swish” will now serve as a special advisor to GM Brian Cashman. Though the terms of that job are typically pretty broad, Cashman envisions Swisher spending a lot of his time with minor leaguers in the organization. “He had a huge impact on that crew in Scranton when he was playing with [Aaron] Judge, [Greg] Bird, [Gary] Sanchez and all those guys,” said Cashman. “He brought the joy of playing the game on a daily basis, and it was infectious throughout that locker room. The opportunity to bring him into the fold and sprinkle him throughout our farm system was attractive.” On the field, Swisher was a .249/.351/.447 lifetime hitter; his playing career came to an abrupt end after a pair of rough seasons spent with the Indians and Braves from 2014-2015.
Other items out of the AL East…
- Rays outfielder Carlos Gomez is being met with a lot of excitement from his new teammates, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In particular, Denard Span says that, “you’d rather have him on your team than playing against him. Because he’s a headache when you’re playing against him.” There are a lot of reasons for that, Topkin writes. Gomez likes to “mix it up” with bat flips and sometimes even instigates brawls. He’s also the type to play hard in every moment of every game, according to new teammate Kevin Kiermaier. “He’s a guy who just loves baseball,” says Kiermaier. “Every time he takes the field, it doesn’t matter if you’re up eight runs or down eight, he’s going to go and play with that intensity.” One of the most interesting points Topkin makes about Gomez is that he can be a little bit misunderstood. Although he appears animated and aggressive, Rays reliever Sergio Romo describes him as someone who “always means well” and that some of the things he’s done have simply taken the wrong way on occasion. Gomez is set to replace the recently-traded Steven Souza Jr. in the Rays’ outfield this season.
- Looking for a bit of insight into how players are cut from major league spring training camp? Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun helps shed some light on the subject by way of some words from Orioles manager Buck Showalter. Notably, Showalter is committed to spending time meeting with players prior to cuts. “I’m not going to rush through anything,” he said. “I want to hear from them as much as I want to tell them [some things], because I don’t want a month or two or three months to pass, and all of a sudden our success depends on them being able to come up and do something and we didn’t have those proper conversations.” Showalter also believes player feedback is an equally important part of those conversations.
Enjoy your Carlos Gomez. He didn’t do much for Houston.
He was pretty solid for the Rangers though.
He only signed for $3.5MM, you would imagine he could sign for more than a year and for more money if he was relatively decent.
What about all the ones that haven’t signed yet? Guess they all must be terrible, huh?
Lance Lynn was offered 2 years and around $12 Mil … in this market not many are getting what they normally would
Adam Lind just signed a minor league deal w/ the Yanks coming off of a very solid year of .875 OPS in 300 AB as a bench/part-time guy. It’s depressed market for semi-stars/role players. Doesn’t mean the players available or have signed for below market are “bad”. 1B, corner OFer’s and DH types are faced with a situation where there are more positions filled than usual.
All the more reason I hate the 3yr/$33mm handed out to Kendrys Morales. I would’ve loved a reunion with Lind
Did not do much for Houston or Texas …… all hype ……. clubhouse cancer
I thought he did well in Texas. Not so sure he’s been known to incite brawls lol.
“Club house cancer” is one of the most overused terms in sports. What is he most associated with? How he does or doesn’t run out his home run trots? That’s not a “club house” decisive issue. That’s personality, style or a big ego. Locker rooms have a dozen or so guys like that. Two veterans, that are for the most part, well respected, just spoke glowingly about the guy.
I personally have more of an issue with Madison Bumgarner and Brian McCann and the way they feel the need to police others for “styling”.
That’s exactly right. Bumgarner and McCann feel the need to be the fun police. You’re playing a game, a bat flip does not give you the reason to respond with violence and arrogance.
Lots of guys in the giants clubhouse love bum… can’t speak for McCann, but everyone remembers the 2014 world series celebrations with bum chugging beer and everyone around. You want to name a clubhouse cancer, Jose bautista, there’s a reason nobody wanted to risk signing him last off-season as a bounce back candidate coming off a bad year. Another example of a clubhouse cancer from another sport… LeBron James.
Ha. There’s been no indication whatsoever that Bautista is a clubhouse cancer. The reason he wasn’t signed was money. But please, who do you know on Toronto’s that told you he’s a bad teammate?
I’ve never heard any Bluejay player say anything negative about him. Reason why tabs won’t sign him are mite to do with his obp, health recently and lack of being an elite power
As for LBJ. NO WAY is he a cancer. Syrian may have wanted to leave to create his own destiny but NEVER will he tell you LBJ didn’t make him a better player. You think every teammate loved Jordan, Bird or Magic?
Lebron James? Really? I’ve never heard a bad word about him from any player in the NBA. And, you know, the Cavs have won a few titles with him….that’s a really bizarre comment.
Regarding Batista, I distinctly remember reading that here on MLBTR last off-season, that teams wouldn’t sign him for his anticts. However, I might’ve read that in the comments cause I looked and couldn’t find it you may “potentially” be right though I don’t agree.
As for LeBron he keeps the wrong attitude losing you can see it in post game interviews, throws (indirectly) teammates under the bus to the media, and just looking at this season they had to blow up during the deadline just to “startover”. Everyone knows LeBron is making a lot of the player calls even if he’s not gm to keep him in Cleveland
Well, the Rangers wouldn’t sign him because it his job to own them, and they wouldn’t want Odor throwing a hissy fit every two minutes. The Orioles wouldn’t because Oday and him don’t get along. But how does that make him a clubhouse cancer? The Jays seemed to have no problem bringing him back, and wouldn’t they know the most if he had a negative impact in the room?
Houston didn’t do much for Gomez. The Rangers did well by him and vice versa.
What are you talking about! he was a regular in the Astros lineup and he didn’t produce.
I wouldn’t call him a regular (368 AB) . However, he still had a decent year. He had a 2 WAR, .800 OPS, and almost a 20 HR, 20 SB season. Not an all star or anything, but is fairly productive.
Really glad to see Swish back with the Yanks. Guy seems like he lives his life with enjoyment always keeping the hammer down.
That Rays OF with Gomez-Kiermaier-Smith is going to catch every single fly ball.
Other than their INF, which theyre stuck with because they can’t be blocking spots due to internal options, they actually aren’t that bad a team.
When the Rays INF is Arroyo-Adames-Solak-McKay they might be real good real quick.
They won’t catch many 420 ft, fly balls.
Too bad The Polo Grounds are long since demolished!
Solak and McKay aren’t going to be ready this year so they aren’t going to be blocked by anyone. But hey Brad miller and C.J. Cron will be fun to watch. That outfield will have to make up for the balls that get by the left side of the infield because Brad miller will probably be one of the worst defensive g 2b in the game. Their bullpen is pretty soft too outside of colome. That’s a last place team.
he likes to mix it up by instigating brawls.
wow, thats possibly the #1 most sugar-coated way to describe this baseball-disrespecting a#*hole Carlos Gomez
He has a deep passion for the game. Misunderstood. And besides brawls are sexy.
Sit on it and rotate ralton, Carlos Gomez is a guy you want on your team period, think aj pierzynski. He was the best Brewer CF since Robin Yount and a case study in how rushing talented but raw players to the majors can stunt their development. I always thought the Mets rushed him to the bigs and then getting him for jj hardy from the twins was brilliant. Carlos Gomez rules and you drool.
Gomez’s career has been average. Now below average
Gomez has averaged 3 fWAR/500 PA for his career and last year he was a 2 WAR player in 105 games. That is not a below average player now, nor an average player for his career. Unless you consider players like Enciarte and Bruce below average now and Justin Upton only average for his career.
The braves were babies that game
McCann was doing his job and sticking up for his pitcher. Maholm and Gomez had history and Gomez reminded him of it when he hit the HR and was jawwing at Maholm. Maholm shouldn’t have given up the HR. Extra points for Reed Johnson landing a phantom right hook to Gomez.
McCann was fine being the fun police as long as Chris Johnson wasn’t there being bad cop.
And toy leave off that Maholms has hit Gomez twice. Who’s more detrimental to the game and its player? The one that styles too much when he his a homer or the one that threw the pitch them proceeds to talk smack or hit the batter because they were showed up? Let me see them do that to Bautista or David Ortiz (when he was playing). Me… Nothing more disrespectful than standing in the way of a player on his hr run trot right in front of home plate. The chump Reed took a sucker punch on him too. That’s weak.
That’s not actually what it says though. You left out like 6 words and a comma.
He replies back to anyone who has something to say to him. I don’t care how long a guy stares at his homerun they have NO right to confront him like McCann did. Why do people think they have the right to bark at someone because they didn’t “run fast enough”.. What kind of bull is that? I really take umbrage with this culture clash between baseballs “gritty good ole boys” and the games more “colorful personalities”. I HATE to see Bautista hit a homerun, stare at it and then do the exaggerated bat flips. But guess what. don’t allow him to launch it 500 ft and you won’t have that problem.
Will Swish be based out of Brohio?
Swisher was so overrated. White Sox literally gave him away in the heart of his career.
Yeah he had a few good years in a loaded Yankee lineup. I’ll never forget the offseason where Swisher wanted a Jayson Wyrth contract. He signed for less than half that with the Indians. Even that was an extreme overpay as he did horrible there.
He is the sole reason the Indians are paranoid at giving out long term deals so he indirectly hurt future free agents. And to think he wanted much more money. Good grief at least teams didn’t do that are he might have been sued lol
Swisher had 11.5 WAR in 4 years with the Yankees. Not great, but by no means awful. And when he signed with Cleveland, the Yankees netted a compensatory pick, which turned out to be Aaron Judge. Overall, the trade worked out for the Yankees.
Now this is the type of knowledge bombs I like to read.
I remember seeing Gomez get hit in the head with a Syndergaard fastball, in Noah’s rookie season. After the game he defused the situation right away. Gomez said he didn’t think it was intentional, and also complimented Noah on how awesome he is and how bright a future he’s going to have. I always really respected him for that.
Gogo was well liked by Brewer fans and teammates, and vice versa. He went all out all the time. And he was one of the nicest guys (and most approachable) at spring training; made a fan of my wife for life with his courtesy and willingness to sign for anyone. She was very sad when he was traded. I’ll always have a soft spot for him. You know what? He usually got complaints from other fans because he ran out his homeruns TOO FAST! jeesh
Always liked watching Gomez while he was in Milwaukee. He’d do some dumb things every once in a while but he looked like he was enjoying it. Any time made a catch near the wall it seemed like he would crash into it and try to make it look dramatic even if he could have made the catch just standing there. He’d still catch it but I think he hurt himself doing that once or twice.