Daisuke Matsuzaka’s line in his start this week:

Nick Swisher’s line in one inning of relief:

From my perspective, this basically sums up the week.

At the end of the season, the White Sox dragged their feet (and their fans through burning coals) before clinching the AL Central title in what turned out to be a surprisingly mediocre division.

Sure, they bounced back from an atrocious 2007 season, but more often than not, their age, lack of speed, reliance on the long ball, and inability to hold leads exposed serious flaws to a team that eventually was bounced from the playoffs after a weak series against the World-Series-bound Tampa Bay Rays.

At the start of the 2008 season, Kenny Williams had built his White Sox into a favorable predicament: abundance of talent.  Where once he was the odd man out in acquiring outfield help, he was able to make a move to bring in a center fielder (acquiring Nick Swisher and Carlos Quentin), and signed Alexei Ramirez, the young Cuban defector who could seemingly play anywhere on the diamond.

Though the center fielder question remains open now that Swisher is no longer with the team, it’s not hanging over the team’s head as it did for the past two years. The White Sox do need to decide what to do about center field, but this time around, they have to address other, more immediate concerns.

Williams had acquired Orlando Cabrera and had signed Swisher in hopes of bolstering the team’s presence on the base paths, and though the White Sox posted a .332 team OBP in 2008 (good for ninth), it wasn’t a huge improvement over 2007’s .318 effort (which was good for dead last in the AL).

In addition to OBP, speed and run production are of essence. The Rays ran over the ChiSox in the ALDS, and there wasn’t a better indicator of how much the White Sox relied on home runs than their last three elimination games before the playoffs. For the record, the Pale hose scored 678 runs, good for a below-the-median eighth place.

There’s been speculation that Williams will target speedy, leadoff types like Willy Taveras, Chone Figgins, Orlando Hudson, or Juan Pierre, but as an astute fan pointed out to White Sox beat writer Scott Merkin, all they have to do is give perennial-rookie Jerry Owens a fair shot in 2009.

With Owens, Williams would kill three birds with one stone: center field, speed at the top of the lineup, and affordability. If anything, I would argue that Owens’ low price tag is reason enough to give him a shot and not splurge on free agents that may or may not give you the same kind of production as in-house talent would. The downside to Owens is the fact that he did get significant playing time in 2007 (356 ABs) and posted a very vanilla .324 OBP with 32 stolen bases in 40 attempts.

Now, Ken Rosenthal has suggested that the Swisher deal might be a prelude to bigger things, and with Williams’ track record, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did make another big trade or went after a coveted free agent.

As far as the infield goes, shortstop Orlando Cabrera won’t return, and Joe Crede’s back has demonstrated that it will not cooperate, and won’t allow the All-Star corner infielder to play one full season without flaring up. Williams acquired Wilson Betemit in the Swisher trade, and the young infielder will compete for the second base job. The White Sox also have the “inside track” on signing another Cuban talent, Dayan Viciedo, a 19-year-old third baseman that’s been generating a lot of buzz – something that may actually hurt the Sox chances if a bidding war erupts. What’s more, the kid is too young and inexperienced to make the parent club in ‘09.

With Crede (most probably) leaving via free agency, it looks like it’ll be Josh Fields’ job to lose at the hot corner, and in that scenario, the White Sox would be looking at an infield of Fields-Ramirez-Betemit-Paul Konerko. Somehow, it just doesn’t look like an infield of Williams’ design without another veteran in the mix, so Rosenthal might prove a little prophetic here.

And then there are the starters. Javier Vazquez has finally proven (was this ever a question?) that he can’t pitch in big-game situations, so the Sox may trade him (to the Mets, maybe?); Jose Contreras is coming off Achilles heel surgery, and given his (presumed) age of 37, it’ll be tough for the big right-hander to pitch effectively all year. The White Sox did get a very average starting prospect in Jeff Marquez in the Swisher deal, but again, I highly doubt Williams’ confidence in pitching coach Don Cooper is such that he’ll hold off adding more arms to the rotation.

Jeffrey Marquez – Arizona Fall League – 2008-10-31 from David Pratt on Vimeo.

Though Williams said he’d be stingy this offseason, we’ve already seen a big trade, and like Rosenthal suggests, it just doesn’t sit right without another move further down the road, which makes me think the age factor is still in play. Williams was open to trading Jermaine Dye before the Swisher deal, and considering that along with Dye, two of the four major run producers for the Sox will be over 34 in ‘09 (Jim Thome’s 38), it may still be an option to move one of them. With the free agency departures and the Swisher deal, the White Sox are definitely getting faster and younger –almost too young.

- What They Need Index -

Am I reading this right?

The New York Yankees have acquired center fielder-first baseman Nick Swisher in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, baseball sources tell ESPN.com.

Minor league pitcher Jeff Marquez is headed to Chicago in the deal, the source said. It’s uncertain if any other players are involved.

If I were to create a list of bounceback candidates in 2009, Swisher’s name would be among the top. Despite a line drive rate topping 20% for the first time in his career, his BABIP plummeted to .249, by far a career-low. His Isolated Power was around his career norm, and he was as patient as ever at the plate. As long as he is healthy in 2009, Nick Swisher is about as good a bet to bounce back as anyone out there.

But the White Sox dealt him for Jeff Marquez, a 24-year old righty who had a 4.69 ERA with 33Ks and 24BBs in 80 2/3 innings at AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre and whose upside is probably as a long reliever.

What am I missing here?

The initial reaction in my noggin’ upon hearing that Ken Griffey Jr. was headed to the White Sox was one of some surprise. Although he is certainly no longer the player he was just a few years ago, Griffey can still swing a bat decently enough and potentially help a team looking for an offensive boost in the outfield. But regardless of his potential offensive performance, the question needs to be asked: Where would he play?

Throughout his career, we’ve grown accustomed to thinking of Griffey as that center fielder who makes everything look so damned easy. But in case you haven’t been paying attention, Griffey’s been playing right field for the past two seasons due to injury concerns and diminished range. Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox have arguably the best offensive corner outfield duo in the league this year with Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye (both have a 143 adjusted OPS) and are the two best hitters the team has. And although Quentin is a below average left fielder, the team can’t move him to DH since that spot is occupied by their third most effective hitter, Jim Thome (132 adjusted OPS). Assuming that none of these three guys will have playing time taken away, there’s really only two potential scenarios.

For one, Griffey plays center again. This is certainly plausible, but I think that most would advise against it. Back when Griffey was still a center fielder in 2006, out of the 21 players who played at least 850 innings in center, Griffey had the worst fielding percentage among them at .979. Moreover, his revised zone rating was .832 which was also the worst. And this year in RF, his revised zone rating is .826. And yes, this is the worst among qualifying RFers who have logged at least 590 innings.

If this scenario plays out, it would also mean that Nick Swisher gets booted out of center field or out of the lineup altogether. Swish was the crown jewel of Chicago’s off-season. But to call his performance thus far a disappointment might be an understatement to some. He is posting career lows in batting average (.230) as well as in slugging percentage (.404). His OBP is near a career-low as well (.348). Despite this, Swish still isn’t the biggest disappointment in the Sox lineup this year, as that title has to go to first baseman Paul Konerko. If you blinked, you missed Konerko’s decline. From 2004-2006, Konerko was one of the most effective hitters in the game, posting adjusted OPS figures of 127, 136, and 134 respectively. Last year, that figure dropped to 116. This year, it’s 74. And he has a negative 7.7 VORP to boot. Swisher has spent a good chunk of his time over his career playing first, so if Griffey goes into center field, then I’m assuming that Swisher’s moving to first. Which would leave Konerko, the team captain, out in the cold.

Alternatively, Griffey becomes a 4th outfielder. Again, plausible. But as a 10 and 5 player, Griffey had the right to block any trade. Would he have approved it knowing that he would be riding pine? Would the desire to play in the postseason trump a starting job? And since Griffey still has a $16.5MM club option next season that the Sox did not have to pick up as a condition to the trade, the guy is still potentially playing for his next contract, unless he retires before that happens.

Of course, the White Sox wouldn’t dare consider just putting Griffey at first base – a position where he has played for two whopping innings in his entire career (once in ‘93, other in ‘98) – during a tight race for the division championship… Would they? Or do they have another trade up their sleeve that makes this all a moot point?

The facial hair situation for the White Sox has gotten even worse since last month. At least this time it’s UFH for a good cause!

Nick Swisher gets a dye job on his UFH from Jeremy Campus, who has cancer, to raise awareness about breast cancer for Mother’s Day, which is this coming Sunday.

(Let’s hope for his sake that he got Ma Swisher some flowers instead of, say, a slightly used blow-up doll.)