Swish muddles picture

I just posted less than an hour ago about how much I love the Nick Swisher deal, although it seems to me that it muddles the Yankees OF/1B pictures a little bit. Don't get me wrong, having too many options is way way better than having too few, but it seems to me that, now with Swisher in the fold, the Yankees could just as easily go either way as they could before.

Let's start with the outfield. The Yankees, obviously, have three spots to fill there. For those spots, they have the following players: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Brett Gardner, Xavier Nady, Melky Cabrera, and now Nick Swisher. That's 6 guys who could fill those spots. Chances are, one of Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner will end up in AAA, so that number is really 5. And it also seems that the Yankees view Hideki Matsui and his creaky knee as mostly (if not completely) a DH, again knocking the number down to 4. Four outfielders isn't terrible, but what makes it a bit confusing is that lack of a centerfielder. Neither Xavier Nady nor Nick Swisher should be playing center with regularity, leaving the job to Johnny Damon and/or Brett Gardner (I'm going to assume Melky will be the one demoted). Gardner will most likely get the short end of that stick, making Johnny Damon our everyday center fielder. Does this mean that the Yanks will trust him there again? Damon already lost the job once to Melky Cabrera, and it would seem they're reluctant to have him there every day, but I just don't see a better option.

Also, this likely means the Yankees will pursue one of Bobby Abreu or Mark Teixeira, which makes me grumpy because I absolutely love Bobby Abreu, but completely covet Mark Teixeira. So either the Yankees sign Abreu and plug in Swisher at first, or they sign Teixeira and plug Swisher in a corner outfield spot. As great as it'd be to have a real force at first like Teixeira, my guess would be that the Yanks go after an outfielder (whether it be Abreu or someone else) and let Swisher play at first most of the time. It is not secret that the Yankees really want CC Sabathia, and doling out two $100+ million contracts would be hefty, even by the Yankees' standards, so my guess would be that the acquisition of Swisher pushes the Yankees out of the Mark Teixeira lottery.

And, of course, this completely ignores Option C, where the Yankees leave their lineup as it is and give Brett Gardner some more playing time, keeping Swish at first, Damon in left, and Nady in right while Gardner plays center. Unsurprisingly, this is hardly my favorite option. Swisher alone will not be able to replace Abreu's and Giambi's production, and while I've heralded Brett Gardner in the past, it was only as a replacement for Melky Cabrera when the Yanks had plenty of other production in the lineup. I think the Yankees should replace the two quality hitters they're losing with two more quality hitters, not one and Brett Gardner.