Nick Swisher: Legit!

Nick Swisher is hotter than a female teenage pop singer right now. He's hitting at a downright absurd pace. And he's having more fun on the baseball diamond than he's ever had in his entire life. And all he's really doing is making the most of his opportunities. He's doing so well that more opportunities keep presenting themselves and more days are being spent on the field than on the bench.

I know it's early, but Nick's stats need mention. Since coming off the bench, Swish has recorded 7 hits in 13 at-bats with 9 RBI. He's hitting .538 with an OPS of 2.010 -- that's pretty insane. But he's taking it all in stride. “I’m absolutely loving it,” Swisher was quoted as saying. “It’s like I almost don’t want to wake up, I don’t want to soak it in. I want to keep that fire and keep that passion and keep that attitude going. When I go to the ballpark right now, I feel confident.”

So do we Nick, so do we.

The whole thing has me thinking though. After all, I was very much in support of just going forward with Nick Swisher at 1st when we acquired him over the winter and not pursuing Teixeira at all. In fact it appears I was not alone. Kat O'Brien, over at Newsday had a great piece a few days ago that told a very interesting story in regard to the Teixeira deal. Simply put, Teixiera was never really an option. It was only after meeting with him in December, a move Cash admitted was more to leverage CC than land Tex, where the dream signing became a reality.

"Teixeira never was really an option," Cashman said. (see) "It was something I kept pushing, but it was not really being accepted by above me . . . I guess persistence paid off. I knocked on that door, I guess, just enough that someone finally answered. Hal really gave me the OK to pursue it over a few-day period. And at that point, I still thought the Red Sox were getting him."

After the mess the Sox ownership and brain trust made with Teixeira -- by way of their ridiculous obsession with trying to outsmart Scott Boras -- Cash was obviously more than ready to pick up the pieces and provide the team with tremendous depth at the same time. So thanks for being blowhards Sox brass, it's really paying off so far.

And for those interested, the wrist injury that sidelined Teixeira last night is apparently little more than tendinitis and only prevents him from swinging the bat right-handed. He should play this afternoon and hit lefty. It's nice to have switch-hitters.

Mushmouth's Revenge

I usually never read articles that deal with unsubstantiated clubhouse stuff, but I was bored and bit on an article about a supposed rift between Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.

It seems that ol' Dribble glass himself, Peter Gammons went on WEEI in Boston, the nation's most obnoxious sports radio station and took some not-so-surprising shots at Teixeira and A-Rod. It seems the guy who used to write Diamond Notes is now just an old, cantankerous Red Sox mouthpiece with a megaphone. He's already in the Hall of Fame for sportswriters so why even try anymore?

Gammo on A-Rod and Tex:
As you probably remember, there was a lot of testiness between Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira when they played in Texas together [...] And I don't think Alex really cares about communicating with other players, we know [that] from Derek Jeter.

You're right Peter. They hate each other. A-Rod hates Tex and Jeter. Jeter hates A-Rod and Tex hates A-Rod. Jeter and Tex are just OK. They don't hang out, but you know how it is. They're all catty little 13 year-old girls.

Gammo on Teixeira:
Also, we haven't really seen Teixeira in a situation where the expectations are really that high, and he's going to have to deal with them in New York. It will be very interesting to see how it goes with the Yankees."

Yeah, Anaheim never expected to win anything last year. They were just satisfied with dominating the AL West. Right again, Pete.

Gammo on Teixera's deal with NY:
The Red Sox didn't know it, and in the end there was nothing they could do about it. He wanted to go to the Yankees, his wife doesn't like Boston -- apparently she doesn't like the stores on Newbury Street or something -- and in the end that's the way it goes.

What a ridiculous homer.