Talks have ended. Florida has Maybin but I guess they would have moved Ellsbury to a corner OF spot, maybe later moving Hermida to make room for Mike Stanton.
Last 3 yrs:
Abreu OPS: .886, .814, .842
Swisher OPS: .865, .836, .752
I think it's fair to assume Swisher's 2008 is an outlier. Other than that the OPS's are pretty similar.
Now the division is a lot harder. In the Yankees' run there was a lot less competition in the East. Now that there are three legitimate division winners, it's unrealistic to ask for constant playoff appearances, which is what I was saying.
You need a backup catcher, and having one assigned to Wakefield is a good way to guarantee rest for the starter. It's hard to catch a knuckleball and it takes a lot of practice, and the results would be worse if there were two guys catching Wake.