I’d be truly astonished if Swisher came in anywhere near that value.  In any event, I doubt anyone would be paying it unless there’s a massive surge in salaries this year.  Considering that Adam Dunn doesn’t even appear to be a prized commodity with his superior offensive numbers, I think if Swisher was in this year’s free agent market, he’d be lucky to get $10 million.

I’ve never thought much of Swisher — the Moneyball chapter lauding him was also spent with Billy Beane trashing, among others, Cole Hamels,  Scott Kazmir, Prince Fielder, B.J. Upton,

Swisher also had a 92 OPS+ last year. Even if he returns to 2006-07 form (125, 127, respectively), that puts him dead even with Pat Burrell over the last two years. Burrell’s not going to get anywhere near 19 million.  While Swisher’s a better defensive player, he’s not a particularly gifted outfielder/first baseman, so I don’t think the difference (or the age difference) is going to bring Swisher an extra $5 million.  His baseball-reference.com comps are worse than Burrell, the only active player similar through age 27 list is Austin Kearns (who’s 28 now). His $8 mm deal is considered a bad contract.  Among his most comparable players, the only active one is Craig Monroe, who was available for under $5 mm last year.

The Yankees got a steal on this one, because Marquez is a sinker-ball pitcher who has showed only fleeting ability to strike out batters in the minors, Betemit is basically nothing, and the Yankees got a good looking prospect in Texeira in addition to Swisher. But $19 million a year is preposterous, unless Swisher improves his OPS by at least 50 points from his career high.

Is there a decimal point missing in that sentence somewhere?