"It was a new-look Carlos Quentin on Saturday at SoxFest: He was smiling.

Now, the White Sox are hoping their talented, oft-injured outfielder can return to his 2008 form and finally step back and enjoy the game rather than be the tightly wired overthinker once described by former teammate Jermaine Dye as "weird.''

Last season, hitting coach Greg Walker suggested the Arizona Diamondbacks traded Quentin after the 2007 season because he was ''an overanalyzer.'' Walker called Quentin ''a student of the mechanics of the swing, sometimes to a fault.''

Quentin's hope is that he's a year older and wiser.

His good mood was noticed on Day 2 of SoxFest, where Quentin was asked if it was because he had matured or because it was still the offseason."