Nick Swisher Now Officially an Indian

Today the Indians officially announced the signing of Nick Swisher to the largest free agent contract in free agent history.

Swisher Contract Details

Paul Hoynes has the contract details:

Breakdown on Swisher's deal: $11 million 2013; $15 mill 2014, $15 mill 2015; $15 mill 2016 and vesting option $14 mill for 2017. #indians.

— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) December 23, 2012

This backloading means that (assuming a theoretical $75M payroll) the Indians have about $9-10M to spend on a starting pitcher or another position player. Also keep in mind that the money from the new national TV deal kicks in next season, plus whatever extra money comes from a possible sale of STO.

This information conflicts with earlier reports saying that Swisher's vesting 2017 option is easily obtainable:

Swisher's $14 mil option for 2017 kicks in if he gets 550 plate appearances and passes physical at end of the 2016 season. #indians.

— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) December 23, 2012

550 Plate Appearances isn't something that I'd classify as easy to get, especially from a 35-year-old position player. If he would go on the 15-day DL, that option would be in serious jeopardy, as he'd lose approximately 60 Plate Appearances (he had 624 in 2012). If he missed a month, the vesting option would almost certainly not trigger. In other words, the option would trigger only if Swisher started roughly 120 games.

First Impressions on the Swisher Signing

It's been just a couple hours since the story broke, and there's some details yet to emerge, but for now let's go with what we have.

Nick Swisher Signs With Indians

The Indians have themselves a new right fielder.