Newsday's Kat O'Brien reports that the Yankees might have locked down their everyday right fielder:

And here in Tampa, the news of the morning is that Joe Girardi said Xavier Nady is the starting right fielder. Said Girardi: "If we were to break today, Nady would be my right fielder." Girardi said he likes what Nady did for the Yankees last year, thinks he can do even better now that he has adjusted to the league, and looks forward to his production. We'll see both him and Nick Swisher out there, but Nady is the regular starter.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense because -- wait, what? Xavier Nady's been around for a while and is exceptionally easy to project. Given regular duties in the middle of a good lineup, he'll hit 25 homers and drive in 100 runs. He doesn't draw many walks, and he will reach base roughly 33 percent of the time. Swisher would also hit 25 to 30 homers and wouldn't drive in as many runs because he'll take his walks but might score more because he'll reach base 35 percent of the time. According to everything I can find, Swisher's the slightly better fielder. And according to everything I can find, Swisher's the better baserunner. Also -- and here's the nut if you're looking for one -- Swisher's the better hitter against right-handed pitchers, and last time I checked, there were more right-handed pitchers than left-handed pitchers. Swisher's also (almost exactly) two years younger than Nady, which means he's got a better chance of improving over what he did last year (which, by the way, was a terribly unlucky year for him, coloring all the projections you'll find for him). So, let's see … younger, better against right-handed pitching, better fielder, better baserunner … gee, why would you want to give that guy a regular job? Oh, don't worry; it's not as bad as all that. Considering all the Yankees' creaky old geezers, there should be plenty of at-bats for a (relative) whippersnapper like Nick Swisher. These sorts of things do tend to find their natural balance, eventually. But with the questions about Alex Rodriguez's availability and the tough competition in their division, one might reasonably wonder if "eventually" will come soon enough.