What’s with Nick Swisher? The Yankee outfielder with have an MRI–his second in ten days–today. According to the Times:
“Short term, I’m worried about it because I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” Manager Joe Girardi said of Swisher. “But I don’t perceive it to be two weeks or anything like that.”
It has been almost two weeks since Swisher fouled a ball off his knee on Aug. 24 in Toronto, and after a period of slight improvement, he said Sunday in Texas that the pain had started affecting other parts of his body. It grew noticeably worse Wednesday, when he fell after taking a swing, and he ran with a limp his first two games against the Rangers. Swisher, receiving treatment before Monday’s game, was not available to comment.
shut him down .... get him ready for the playoffs ...
Agreed.
[1] Especially if they are going to shut everyone else down.
Of course, the playoffs are not yet a given. Indifference toward winning has a way of really taking hold. That's kind of what happened in 2000 when Torre went into cruise control and things got dicey down the stretch.
Old Poll: (and I'm REALLY Serious!!!)
Which would you prefer?
A) Going All Out for the Diviision
and pushing players when needed?
B) Accept the Wild Card and
rest EVERYONE, and check out the maybe scrubs
We will NOT have Home Field for the WS.
Home Field is a 1 game swing.
I choose (B) and
.... extensive rest for Posada, Jeter, Gardner and Swisher
but don't allow them to get rusty
.... reasonable rest for ARod (75% playing time)
.... get Kearns, Thames and Berkman lots of ABs,
as they might be very important in the PS
.... let Phil have all his starts, 70 pitches max per
.... let CC have all his starts, 90 pitches max per
.... Give Nova some headway and see what he can do
Frankly, if Gardy and Swisher are 95%, and Jeter an Po continue to suck, we can play every game at home and still leave the PS early
Better to lose the battle but Win the War!
[1] It won't happen, given the machinations of Secret Joe. Don't want to give Maddon an advantage, you know? :-/
[3] I think the 2000 season turned out okay...
[4] To quote an old coach, you play to win the game. If you lose too many battles, you usually wind up losing the war. Besides, since when did trying to win games become such a dangerous part of the game? This isn't the NFL.
[6] It worked out in the end, but they weren't far from an epic collapse.
[4] Yeah, I go for (B) too.
The one game edge does matter, and I think for the Yanks it really is important, because you want CC starting at home as much as possible. But it's not nearly as important as having everyone healthy in October.
I would give Phil all of his starts except the last one, if he's in line to pitch any of the last three games. I would also skip CC once. And good call on getting Kearns, Thames, and Berkman lots of ABs.