I was going through the list of the first crop of minor league free agents at MLB Trade Rumors tonight when I came across the name Wilson Betemit. Betemit is not a player who I followed particularly closely this season, but reading that name immediately reminded me of the trade that sent Nick Swisher to the New York Yankees.

At the time of the trade, I loved the move for the Yankees. Swisher was coming off a miserable performance--he hit just .219/.332/.410 in 2008--during his lone stint with the Chicago White Sox. His .251 batting average on balls in play indicated that he was the victim of some plain old bad luck, though, as his 20.9% line drive rate was actually the best of his career. Bad luck or not, it was a great buy-low opportunity for New York, which also gained a bit of leverage