Today’s news is powered by Woody Woodpecker:

• Swisher ^[1] is at home on the road:

While the rest of the Yankees seem to have fallen in love with hitting for power at the new Yankee Stadium, Swisher has gone in the completely opposite direction. He now owns 23 homers in his first season with the Bombers, 20 of which have come away from the Bronx.

“I’m just trying to prove to everybody that hitting home runs in Yankee Stadium is not that easy,” Swisher said, laughing.

• Did Dellin Betances ^[2] really have a true TJ procedure?:

Betances’ procedure was an “overlay TJ,” a variant of the Tommy John procedure where the damaged ligament isn’t removed, but instead left in place and the ligament is buttressed by the new tendon. Originally, it was thought that this would reduce the issue with proprioception that many TJ surgeries involve for patients, but the procedure is seldom used currently.

• The Times analyzes the “true” price of post-season tickets ^[3].
• Fangraphs examines the Angels replacement for Teixeira, Kendry Morales ^[4].

• Eric Plunk turns 46 today.  Plunk relieved in 117 games for the Yanks from ’89 to ’91.  He had an interesting time shuttling between the A’s and Yanks during the early years of his career:
  • June 8, 1981: Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 4th round of the 1981 amateur draft. Player signed June 15, 1981.
  • December 5, 1984: Traded by the New York Yankees with Tim Birtsas, Jay Howell, Stan Javier and Jose Rijo to the Oakland Athletics for Bert Bradley, Rickey Henderson and cash.
  • June 21, 1989: Traded by the Oakland Athletics with Greg Cadaret and Luis Polonia to the New York Yankees for Rickey Henderson.

• On this date in 1973, after 11 years at the helm (944-806, .539), Ralph Houk resigns as Yankee skipper.
• On this date in 2008, instant replay is used for the first time in a major league game. Alex Rodriguez homers to left off Troy Percival in the 9th as part of a 8-4 Yankee win. Brian Runge calls it a homer and has his call upheld upon review.

I’m off til Tuesday . . . have a good holiday!