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Nick Swisher Lands In Cleveland And Other MLBullets

He gets four years and $56 million, which is either a lot or a bargain, depending on whom you ask.

By Brett Taylor
The Star-Ledger-US PRESSWIRE

Happy Holidays to all, and a Merry Christmas Eve to those who celebrate it .May Santa treat you well.

  • One of the biggest remaining free agent chips dropped yesterday, with Nick Swishing signing on as an Indian for four years and $56 million. He'd been expected to end up in Cleveland for a little while now - they were, at least, the favorite - so it wasn' t a huge surprise. I'd expect that the money was a bit of a surprise to him, considering that just a couple years ago, Jayson Werth, at a similar age and with similar numbers, got a deal worth more than twice as much. Werth was better then than Swisher is now, but the difference in the contracts is stark.
  • Ken Rosenthal talks about the Indians' moves this offseason, and discusses how signing Swisher makes sense for Cleveland, even in the face of trading away Shin-Soo Choo, and possibly dealing Justin Masterson and Chris Perez as well. In short, they are trying to simultaneously rebuild for the long-term while also improving the team for 2013. We'll see how it works out.
  • The Red Sox and Pirates are working out the final details of a move that would send closer Joel Hanrahan to the Red Sox, together with another player, for outfielder Jerry Sands, pitching prospect Stolmy Pimentel, and possibly reliever Mark Melancon plus another player. The details probably won't be worked out until after Christmas.
  • It isn't quite the big bat the Mariners have been hoping to land, but Seattle yesterday agreed to terms with 40-year-old Raul Ibanez to a one-year, $2.75 million deal. With a mess of DH/1B/fringe-OF types already, Ibanez's fit is tough to figure, but, as I said, the Mariners were just desperate to make sure they landed another bat or two this offseason.
  • As Al noted on the front page, former Cub Ryan Freel died Saturday from an apparent suicide. It's a sad story about a guy who was a fan favorite in Cincinnati for a long time.

Brett Taylor is the Lead Writer at Bleacher Nation, and a Contributor here at Bleed Cubbie Blue.

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