Why the White Sox Won't Miss Nick Swisher

After reading article after article about how great an acquisition Swisher will be for the New York Yankees, I think it is important to look at the trade from the perspective of the White Sox. I was excited as anyone last winter when the Sox acquired Swisher for three unproven prospects.  It seemed like Kenny Williams was getting a proven, young player with a ton of upside.  He had the grinder mentality the Sox praise and he even could take a walk. After a few months, however, Swisher’s act got tired.  His goofy personality couldn’t hide the fact that his .218 batting average was hurting the team.  The typical baseball stat head response to that statement is that Swisher’s OBP was still relatively high at .350.  They yell about how little batting average tells about a player’s productivity, etc. Now admittedly, I don’t prescribe to this school of thought in any way.  Hitters are supposed to hit.  The reason they go up to the ... (link)