John Danks should never start for the White Sox again

[ChiSoxFanMike]

Can we stop calling a eating innings an ability? Literally anyone can go out there and get destroyed while throwing a lot of pitches.

Exactly.

 

Hell, they could throw me out there and I could eat innings too. I'm a lefty, so I could probably outperform Danks.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Yes, but you don't want guys like Jones, Albers, and Putnam doing that. If you're down several runs early in the game and it's unlikely that you'll win the game, you want somebody out there who (1) can throw a lot of innings and (2) you weren't planning on using in higher-leverage situations. A washed-up starter is ideal for those situations.

Erik Johnson would be much better suited for that role. The Sox don't give a s*** about if his arm falls off and he's a far superior pitcher than Danks at this point or in the very least, not worse.

[BaconOnAStick]

Other than one bad start by Rodon the only time the Sox have been run out of games is Danks starts. This early 0-7 deficit is going to be exceedingly rare when Danks is no longer starting games.

 

Put Danks on the 60 day DL, if he can throw 90+ with command in his rehab starts he can try and earn his way back onto the team in July. If he can't then just DFA him.

[Black_Jack29]

I'm not sure about being counterproductive PR-wise...

 

DFAing and under-performing veteran less than one month into the season is going to be noticed by other veterans and will not help the Sox's ability to sign free agents.

 

How smart is it to start him against one of the better offenses in the game in the Boston Red Sox, at home, where the fans will have what reaction if he gets bombed again? Wouldn't that be even more sad/depressing?

 

I agree. That's why a trip to the DL/bullpen makes more sense.

 

[southsideirish71]

This is real life, not a fantasy team. Baseball organizations need to be careful in how they handle veteran players who were once pretty good and won a lot of games for that organization. DFAing Danks after a few bad starts in April would be counter-productive from a PR perspective, especially after the LaRoche fiasco. Not to mention a waste of money as well. It would be much smarter for the Sox to move him to long relief.

 

 

This is real life. And in real life pitchers who throw 86mph without deception, exceptional control and crazy movement wind up getting hit exceptionally hard in the majors. Its why we don't see a lot of these guys playing in the MLB. You want to put him in long relief? Why? Do you think his control, velocity, deception, or movement will somehow get better in this role. Wait till it gets warm at the Cell. Do you see a path for success for him. Or are you stashing him there so he can gracefully bow out. The money is a sunk cost.

 

Move on. Next up.

[Black_Jack29]

Other than one bad start by Rodon the only time the Sox have been run out of games is Danks starts. This early 0-7 deficit is going to be exceedingly rare when Danks is no longer starting games.

 

It'll happen at least once or twice a month. The Sox will not have a stud in their #5 spot after Danks is demoted to the 'pen and Latos is bound to eventually come back to Earth at some point.

 

 

[Soxfest]

Cut bait he needs released.

[Black_Jack29]

Erik Johnson would be much better suited for that role. The Sox don't give a s*** about if his arm falls off and he's a far superior pitcher than Danks at this point or in the very least, not worse.

 

Erik Johnson will be our #5 starter, not a mop-up guy.

 

Young pitchers who have some promise need to get regular work. Making them sit in the bullpen with no work for a week or longer makes no sense.

 

[Saufley]

Cut bait he needs released.

 

I was hoping to wake up this morning to find out he had been released.

 

 

[BaconOnAStick]

It'll happen at least once or twice a month. The Sox will not have a stud in their #5 spot after Danks is demoted to the 'pen and Latos is bound to eventually come back to Earth at some point.

Kenny Williams is not going to stand pat at the deadline. Either someone will step up play like a good ML pitcher (not just a good 5th starter) or the Sox will find one.

 

I think the ideal postseason pitching situation for this team is a 4 mean of Sale-Quintana-Rodon-<acquisition> with Cy Latos coming out of the pen. Of course the more John Danks starts games the less likely it is that the Sox execute any sort of playoff plan.

[Black_Jack29]

Kenny Williams is not going to stand pat at the deadline. Either someone will step up play like a good ML pitcher (not just a good 5th starter) or the Sox will find one.

 

I think the ideal postseason pitching situation for this team is a 4 mean of Sale-Quintana-Rodon- with Cy Latos coming out of the pen. Of course the more John Danks starts games the less likely it is that the Sox execute any sort of playoff plan.

 

The Sox have limited trade options at this point, but I generally agree with you. Right now, I'd put Danks on the DL and bring Erik Johnson up.

 

I recall reading somewhere that starters sometimes go through an early-season "dead arm" period in late April or May. If that's the case with Danks (and I'm not sure that it is), the 15-day DL might do him some good.

 

But for the long-term, yes, the Sox need to trade for another starter this season.

 

[caulfield12]

DFAing and under-performing veteran less than one month into the season is going to be noticed by other veterans and will not help the Sox's ability to sign free agents.

 

 

 

I agree. That's why a trip to the DL/bullpen makes more sense.

 

 

It's this line of thinking that had us giving almost all of the playing time to Alexei Ramirez in a lost season in August and September, instead of discovering what Tyler Saladino had to offer there.

 

95% of the time, the team that offers the most money wins the free agent, Drake LaRoche notwithstanding.

 

And that's beside the fact that the White Sox just don't sign $100+ million, premier free agents. Or haven't yet at least.

[Black_Jack29]

It's this line of thinking that had us giving almost all of the playing time to Alexei Ramirez in a lost season in August and September, instead of discovering what Tyler Saladino had to offer there.

 

95% of the time, the team that offers the most money wins the free agent, Drake LaRoche notwithstanding.

 

And that's beside the fact that the White Sox just don't sign $100+ million, premier free agents. Or haven't yet at least.

 

It was pretty obvious to me that LaRoche was done last season, yet the Sox not only kept him on the roster, but in the lineup for most of the season. Right or wrong, there's a reason why they do that.

 

[BaconOnAStick]

Tonight is what happens you allow losers to play like s*** over and over and stick around. The culture of this team changed last night, and by not getting rid of Danks immediately they may never get back what they had. Every spot on the 25 man matters...

[Quin]

Tonight is what happens you allow losers to play like s*** over and over and stick around. The culture of this team changed last night, and by not getting rid of Danks immediately they may never get back what they had. Every spot on the 25 man matters...

 

Holy s*** they lost one game.

[The Sir]

The Sox have limited trade options at this point, but I generally agree with you. Right now, I'd put Danks on the DL and bring Erik Johnson up.

 

I recall reading somewhere that starters sometimes go through an early-season "dead arm" period in late April or May. If that's the case with Danks (and I'm not sure that it is), the 15-day DL might do him some good.

 

But for the long-term, yes, the Sox need to trade for another starter this season.

 

I wish we'd be open to trading Anderson as a centerpiece for a LH bat or solid starter.

[GreenSox]

Dude is done. Our guys at AAA would have to try and be worse.

Tell that to Don Cooper. He's the reason Danks is intractable. He's the reason Noesi was here for a year, and EJ is/was not.

Edited April 30, 2016 by GreenSox

[Rowand44]

Tonight is what happens you allow losers to play like s*** over and over and stick around. The culture of this team changed last night, and by not getting rid of Danks immediately they may never get back what they had. Every spot on the 25 man matters...

This is truly one of the worst posts in the history of this site.

[BlackSox13]

Talk about over reacting, lol. Danks had nothing to do with tonight's game. Danks didn't create the errors, Danks didn't pitch for Rodon and Danks was not responsible for the lack of offense tonight either. I'd like to be rid of Danks but let's be realistic when it comes to holding players accountable.

[caulfield12]

Trading Anderson is how we got into this 2013-2015 rut in the first place.

 

We keep trading away what minor league talent we have for veterans...then end up replacing the veterans with more fliers or "prospects/suspects" who more often than not don't work out.

 

The other issue is the obvious point that Anderson's not going to bring back the equivalent major league talent until he proves something at the major league level...let alone struggling in AAA.

 

Now the counterargument is the best position players we've traded away in the past decade are guys like Chris Young, Chris Carter and Marcus Semien and nobody other than Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Hudson (while he remained healthy) have really hurt the White Sox in terms of removing a future major league contributor from the roster.

 

It's nevertheless still a prevailing fact that we don't produce enough revenue or have a high enough payroll to outright buy talent or win every single trade or waiver transaction, and we're still far from consistently producing results from our Latin American efforts (outside of Abreu/Ramirez).

Edited April 30, 2016 by caulfield12

[Lip Man 1]

An absolutely imbecilic decision on the part of someone in the brain trust. When Danks gets murdered at home, the fans will boo him off the mound.

 

That's no way to treat the guy. He's done, Sox suck it up and let him go.

 

Totally ludicrous decision.

 

Mark

[caulfield12]

I think it's ludicrous to send him out there against a Red Sox offense that will eat him alive.

 

Not releasing him...no surprise there. But the fact they haven't come up with some mysterious DL trip to try to get things figured out on the side, it just goes to show how much they 1) don't trust any of the other options or 2) value Danks' contributions to the team/clubhouse/veteran leadership.

 

And that last part...might be a reason to hold onto him for now, or maybe hope he can rebound in the last spot in the bullpen, but at some point he's got to get outs or get his 89-90 MPH velocity and/or control back. Otherwise, it's just going to demoralize the team every time he goes out there.

Edited April 30, 2016 by caulfield12

[greg775]

Greg, it's not a matter of getting arm strength back.

 

It's the shoulder/capsule, which isn't nearly as resilient and has proven to be an enigma for even modern medicine and improved surgical technology/techniques.

 

The weird thing is there was a period there where he was consistently throwing 89-91 last year and even touched 92/93 on a few occasions. It's like that version completely disappeared at some point in the last 12 months, never to be heard from again. It's almost like his shoulder has deteriorated or he's hurt another part of his arm/elbow and is compensating for that.

 

At any rate, the end is near. Before the season, I would have said that they would try him over Jennings as the 2nd lefty/long man, but I'm not even sure that's a realistic option at this point with how well the bullpen has been doing and how unlikely it is that Danks can re-establish any value pitching in mop up innings out of the bullpen.

 

Sunk cost. Move on. Thanks for the memories in 2008, especially that Blackout Game. He'll always have that, and 2010 was pretty sweet, too. Both Danks and Gavin Floyd ended up being pleasant surprises and were main cogs in that rotation for a number of years while we held onto our 2005 core (probably too long, in retrospect).

 

It's a sad thing neither Danks or Brandon McCarthy have been able to stay healthy. Both have been snakebitten, especially McCarthy, but he's been able to bounce back when it looked like his career was on the ropes a number of times.

I can buy what u are selling Nice post.

 

maybe Danks can be moved to the bullpen because he's not working out as a starter. it's a shame, but he's made a ton of money for very little production.

 

i think it's time to give someone else a shot at a starting spot in our rotation.

Again, a nice post. Both were non hysterical. I do want to say Danks was NOT s*** last year. He was an OK No. 5 starter a year ago. Check his individual starts rather than quote me some weird stat saying he was last in WAR or something. Danks wasn't bad last year. I haven't seen any of his 4 starts this season so I still "love" him as a fan.

 

Tonight is what happens you allow losers to play like s*** over and over and stick around. The culture of this team changed last night, and by not getting rid of Danks immediately they may never get back what they had. Every spot on the 25 man matters...

This is an insane post. Even if the Sox lose 10 in a row for some reason it's not cause the culture of the team changed in Danks' lousy start.

Edited April 30, 2016 by greg775

[Texsox]

Tonight is what happens when you allow posters to drink heavily and stick around. The culture of this post changed last night, and by not getting rid of Danks immediately I may never get back what I had. Every spot on the 25 man matters...

 

Fixed. We know the start was smoke and mirrors and they were overreaching and overachieving. But when they come back to earth it won't be one player, just like the incredible start hasn't been one guy.

 

Brace yourself, they will lose other games. In fact they will lose three or four in a row at some point. A couple times they are going to get shelled and lose by 10+ runs. There will be a game where they commit four errors. The bull pen is going to blow a three run lead for Sale.

[tray]

So what if Danks pitches to contact against the BoSox, gets great defense and survives until the 6th inning? He gets another 5 starts to maybe win another game ?

Danks provides opposing line-ups with confidence at the plate and that can extend to subsequent games in a series. He throws gopher balls that turn into tape measure home runs - ball busting game changers and momentum killers. If that continues it could impact attendance at home games where Danks is the scheduled starter. That is a problem that Sox management will not tolerate.