John

Danks

He struck out five and walked none. He’s 4-4 with a 4.73 ERA, 56 H and 67/17 K/BB in 51 1/3 innings for Frisco.

“We’d like to leave him alone down there the whole time,” manager Buck Showalter said. “But you don’t know what may come up.”

Danks, who has been officially diagnosed with a strained forearm, is expected to rejoin the rotation at Double-A next week. “It was what we expected and that’s good news,” manager Buck Showalter said.

The hope is that he’ll miss just one start at Double-A Corpus Christi. “The trainer didn’t think it was anything dire to be concerned about,” assistant GM Thad Levine said. “But a pitcher of his caliber, we don’t want to miss anything, so we’re going to have him looked at before he’s throwing again.”

“John’s commanding his three pitches well now, carrying a lot of the positives we saw this spring into his starts now,” general manager Jon Daniels said. “He’s been very impressive the last two months.” Danks is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA over his last eight starts after beginning the season slowly.

Danks has given up four earned runs and 10 hits in 18 innings since moving up to Oklahoma. He’s behind Edinson Volquez in line for a callup, but he might debut before the end of the season.

With a green manager, a major league roster full of disappointments and a farm system that’s probably the worst in baseball, the Sox are likely facing an overhaul this offseason. They’ll probably look to trade Carlos Quentin and a starter like John Danks or Gavin Floyd (or both) first, but Konerko isn’t off the table. The veteran was claimed on waivers by the D’Backs in August but was pulled back after a trade was unable to be worked out. He would have to waive his no-trade clause but indicated he’d be willing to do so in the right situation. “I think you look at it, and you always listen to things on the table,” Konerko said. “If Kenny or Jerry wanted to call and say, ‘This is what we’re doing. What do you think?’ you listen to it all and make a decision. It’s a business.”

“What we have to do is weigh whatever they’re offering up against our chances for the next season,” Williams said. “If we’re going to move our valuable pieces, it’s going to be for major league-ready talent as they can grow with this nice nucleus in place.” Quentin would appear to offer the most trade value coming off a season that saw him hit 254/.340/.499 to go along with 77 RBI over 118 games. Other possible trade possiblities include pitchers John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Matt Thornton.

Danks struck out four and walked four in the tough outing. David Ortiz tagged him for a two-run blast in the second inning, and then Danks settled down until the sixth. It was then, that they strung together a pair of walks and four hits to do the damage and chase Danks from the game. He’ll look to get back on track when he takes on the Indians next week.

He struck out one and also threw a wild pitch. Danks, who will turn 27 next month, registered a 4.33 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in 27 starts this past year but he was much better than that in each of his previous three seasons. The White Sox are counting on him bouncing back after handing him a five-year, $65 million contract extension over the offseason.