Nick Swisher is obviously no longer a member of the Chicago White Sox. And one would think that, following a pretty GD good year for the Pale Hose — even if it wasn’t a personally successful one for Swish — Ozzie Guillen would shower him with some love now that he’s out of town and no longer really affects the fate of Chicagoans.

But then you would be forgetting that this is Ozzie we’re talking about.

It was hard because when we brought him here, a lot of people were excited [that] he would have a great career with the White Sox, but we got to the point that we went through the roster … and we had a right fielder, left fielder, first baseman and DH. It was hard for us to find a place for him.

Was Swisher a bad influence in the clubhouse late in the year?

You’ve got to ask the players about that. To be honest with you, I was not happy with the way he was reacting at the end of the season. He wasn’t helping me either.

Again, it’s just not entirely necessary — Swisher had a deece season before the break (nothing spectacular) and, if I recall, actually hit a home run or two or twelve following the All-Star break, even if that .191 is rather embarrassing.

Furthermore, and I realize that usually Ozzie can do no wrong, I find it difficult to not see a tremendous correlation between “no place for him” and “shut out the coaching staff,” as mentioned by Bronx Zoo. Of course, this is the same Bronx Zoo that was told by Baseball Prospectus that the White Sox didn’t get proper value for Swisher in the deal for the Yankees based on the perception that he didn’t like the coaching staff and that he hit poorly in the second half. So, more than anything, his departure shows the very reason why no one thought the Pale Hose would have tremendous success last year or in a long-term youth filled future.