White Sox season too magical to keep Danks

CHICAGO — Paul Konerko seldom let you know anything was bothering him, but there was a day during the 2012 season when it was impossible to miss how badly he was hurting. That was the day the White Sox put John Danks on the disabled list with shoulder issues.

I asked Konerko if he thought Danks would be able to come back quickly. He said I was missing the point.

“I just want John to come back and be John,” Konerko said. “I don’t care how long it takes, even if he misses the rest of this year. I really want John to be John. That’s all I care about.”

Konerko was no dummy.

Almost four years later, the White Sox are cutting ties with Danks. He would go on to need shoulder surgery later in ’12, after trying for two months to fix his injury through rest and rehab, and while he has made 88 starts post-surgery, he never has been his old self, not on the mound, anyway.

He accumulated a 4.38 ERA, including a 7.25 mark this season, and the Sox had gone 32-56 in his starts. That’s why the Sox announced on Tuesday he’ll be designated for assignment as a procedural precursor to his release.

It was a tough move for general manager Rick Hahn to take to chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to approve, as it will cost the team about $13 million. But it’s a good move, the right one for all involved.

Still, while it may have been inevitable, it wasn’t expected this early, not on May 3.

Hahn’s decisiveness speaks loudly to the new realities of the American League landscape. The White Sox were 18-8 as they …

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