John Danks not pitching up to his contract; allows 3 runs Sunday
It was one of the bad days for Chicago White Sox left-handed starting pitcher John Danks in his spring training start against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday.
Danks pitched 3.2 innings in the spring start, allowing three earned runs on six hits and no walks. He had one strikeout and allowed one home run.
The spring ERA of Danks now stands at 6.35 in two spring starts. Danks entered the spring start with a 4.50 ERA, where he pitched two innings in his first outing on March 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Sunday, the home run allowed by Danks came in the top of the first inning off the bat of David Freese, which also scored AL MVP Mike Trout. Last season, Danks allowed 25 home runs.
Combined in his two outings this spring, Danks has allowed a total of eight hits and four earned runs. Granted, these stats are against two of the better teams in the majors, but it is also spring training. But remember, he’ll be pitching against the likes of the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians on many occasions this season, so he better get used to pitching against the better teams in baseball.
I know it is still spring, but should we be worried about the stats of Danks yet?
Even though the numbers of Danks aren’t that great, he’s still only pitched 5.2 innings this spring, so maybe we should give him one more start before giving complete judgement.
Then again, on the other side of the argument with Danks, the question is … Is this is more of the same from the LHP? Last season, he finished with a 4.74 ERA in 32 regular-season starts, and the previous season, his ERA was 4.75 in 138.1 IP.
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Danks’ performance wouldn’t bother me so much this early in the spring if it wasn’t for the fact he’s being paid $15,750,000, the highest-paid player on the White Sox. If he’s going to continue to pitch the way he is with that current contract, it is like the White Sox are just giving him money to be average, which shouldn’t be the case.
Besides the final start of the regular season last year, the last time Danks pitched seven or more complete innings for the White Sox was July 25, 2014 at the Minnesota Twins. In that start, he allowed four earned runs off six hits in 7.0 IP, where he was the winning pitcher.
We all know the White Sox are probably kicking themselves over the Danks contract that is finally finished after the conclusion of the 2016 season. If all of us, especially the White Sox starting rotation, have to watch and live through the average inconsistency at best, well, we are in for a long ride with Danks.
Don’t get me wrong, I want him to pitch up to the amount the White Sox are paying him, or even up to half of it, but even being spring training, we have to start taking notice of this outing by Danks.
Let’s just hope this was the last of the bad days for a little while.
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