Danks to the DL is near inevitable at this point

A day after acknowledging that Danks’ struggles throughout spring and the unfinished nature of his rehabilitation from shoulder surgery would probably result in his beginning the season on disabled list, the White Sox acknowledged Wednesday that…well…Danks is really, surely very likely to start the year on the disabled list and continue rehabbing in Charlotte.

From CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes:

"“We still have another week to figure that out for,” Ventura said. “I think the best chance for (Danks) would be to pitch strong and keep him in minor league games and start on the DL.”"

Unsurprising all around, and Danks can’t raise much of a holler in protest.

"“It’s not about me,” Danks said. “It’s a team game. Obviously we are here to win ballgames no matter who is doing that. I would like to be there but certainly would understand if they wanted me to wait a little bit and someone else was throwing a little better for April or whatever it is.”"

Nothing much changed from Tuesday to Wednesday, the White Sox just decided to alter expectations after a night to sleep on it. Now Danks will continue his work without an unachievable goal dangling over his head, and–apparently–Dylan Axelrod can prepare for stepping into the starting rotation.

Axelrod worked the temp role at the end of 2011 (three starts) and with more regularity in 2012 (seven starts). If anything, his installment hints that the White Sox intend to reassess the Danks issue week-to-week, while a more involved action like stretching out Hector Santiago would imply that a longer absence was anticipated.

As for Axelrod, 27, he’s having a fine spring, but is known. Quoting the ERA after those 69.2 innings is distracting, but he’s mixed in some effective outings with some shellings. When his slider snaps low and away at its best, when he has his best command, he can hold his own even in the most difficult of settings. At anything less, he’s very vulnerable and short rest is probably not a very good idea. The White Sox can skirt by with him for a while, but Danks is highly-paid to keep him on margins for a reason.

Hey! This is all a bit sad, so let’s slap this quote from JJ’s article on Dayan Viciedo at the end here.

"“One scout watched Viciedo specifically looking for a leg kick and thought the change was minimal, but told CSNChicago.com he’s already seen Viciedo make ‘huge steps’ this spring with regard to his plate approach.”"

Oh my goodness!!!

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan