But they have a lot of firepower to compensate for his loss. Hopefully they’ll be able to do well.

They do? Do the Yankees have anyone that projects to an OPS over .800 other than ARod and Teixeira?

I guess Posada and Matsui have decent shots to clear .800, but both have major injury issues of their own.

Do the Yankees have anyone that projects to an OPS over .800 other than ARod and Teixeira?

Um, are you kidding? Here's ZIPS:

941 Rodriguez 392/549
907 Teixeira 390/517
844 Matsui 368/476
835 Swisher 364/471
823 Nady 340/483
822 Posada 364/458
808 Cano 334/474
800 Damon 362/438
795 Jeter 369/426

Their entire lineup is projected at 800 and up, except for their shortstop, who is just barely under.

Maybe .800 was a bit of an exaggeration, I was initially going to put .850 there, but even so I'm genuinely surprised to see Swisher, Nady, and Cano projected to slug that well by ZiPS.

Nady's broken 800 in both of the past two years, and is in his prime. Swisher has done it in half of his major league seasons (ignoring his cup of coffee year), and is just entering his prime. Cano has done it in half of his major league seasons, and isn't even in his prime yet.

Yes, Swisher and Cano had bad seasons last year. But reversion to the mean and age-related improvement must count for something.

how would bernie's arm play at third base? he's got to be a better option than cody ransom, right?

Maybe .800 was a bit of an exaggeration, I was initially going to put .850 there, but even so I'm genuinely surprised to see Swisher, Nady, and Cano projected to slug that well by ZiPS.

Me too on Swisher. I've got him at .454. Since he's been a big leaguer, he's slugged around .450 twice, once at .493, and once at .410. Career average at .451.

Still, he's a pretty good player. The Yankees don't have any below average hitters in the healthy lineup.

If Posada can't catch, and then at 3B, obviously now you've got holes.

Their entire lineup is projected at 800 and up, except for their shortstop, who is just barely under.

Not to detract from your point, but using ZiPS there is somewhat misleading; other projection systems have most Yankees lower than that. PECOTA, which is at the other extreme, has Damon at 777 as the 3rd best OPS behind ARod and Teixeira.

how would bernie's arm play at third base?

I see a lot of bases empty 5-4-3 groundouts for Wang.

941 Rodriguez 392/549
907 Teixeira 390/517
844 Matsui 368/476
835 Swisher 364/471
823 Nady 340/483
822 Posada 364/458
808 Cano 334/474
800 Damon 362/438
795 Jeter 369/426

Is Swish playing CF? I thought it was Melky/Gardner.

Not to detract from your point, but using ZiPS there is somewhat misleading; other projection systems have most Yankees lower than that. PECOTA, which is at the other extreme, has Damon at 777 as the 3rd best OPS behind ARod and Teixeira.

Well, I picked ZiPS because it was easy to get at (currently linked to on the front page).

But regarding PECOTA... really? 777?

Rodriguez, Teixeira, Damon, Matsui, and Nady all beat that last year; Posada and Jeter were within single digits of it. And that's with uncharacteristically worse than normal years from Posada and Jeter, not to mention Cano and Swisher, both of whom have beat that mark easily in significant portions of their admittedly young careers.

Is Swish playing CF? I thought it was Melky/Gardner.

Yeah, I don't know. If Melky/Gardner instead of Swisher, that's obviously different, but the gist of all this still stands. The Yankees have a good lineup, whether their best hitter is in it or not.

Didn't Nady once play 3B? Could he play it a Bobby Bo level for the first few innings and then have Ransom come in as a defensive replacement?

I was thinking that skill-wise, it would be interesting to try Swisher at 3rd. He's a better athlete than he looks, having held his own at 1B, LF, CF, and RF. Swisher would have all of spring training to get up to speed, and it would allow the Yankees to keep all of their big bats in the lineup until ARod's return. That, or the Cashman could call up Kenny Williams and see if he could get a do-over on the Swisher/Betemit swap. Between Fields and Viciedo, the Sox don't really need Betemit anymore, and Swish could play CF on the South Side.

Could he play it a Bobby Bo level for the first few innings and then have Ransom come in as a defensive replacement?

you can't say his name when you're trying to make a rational plan to run a winning ballclub. I hear if you say it three times he kidnaps your 3 hitter teaches him how to hit in the clutch...the Bonilla way.

I was thinking that skill-wise, it would be interesting to try Swisher at 3rd. He's a better athlete than he looks, having held his own at 1B, LF, CF, and RF. Swisher would have all of spring training to get up to speed, and it would allow the Yankees to keep all of their big bats in the lineup until ARod's return.

I've seen this a couple of times. I think it's one thing to toss a slick fielding first baseman, such as a Mike Squires or Mattingly, who are infield mainstains, in a pinch, but I don't think a Nick Swisher-type is the kind of southpaw any team would suddenly turn into a third baseman, even for a short period of time.

Swish could play CF on the South Side.

Ozzie hates him too much.

Swisher brought teh awesome.

Cano has done it in half of his major league seasons, and isn't even in his prime yet.

He's 26 years old. He's in his prime.