Sox's Danks to have surgery today
CHICAGO – It would be easy for pitcher John Danks to second guess the White Sox treatment plan for his left shoulder strain.
What was expected to be a short stint on the disabled list, missing at most three starts, became a season ending situation. Danks will undergo exploratory surgery today at Rush University Surgery Center in Chicago, and team doctors will fix any issues they find.
“I’m not exactly excited about going in, but I’m ready for it to be fixed and healed and get moving on with just getting back to being healthy,” Danks said. “That’s kind of the key. It’s been so long since I’ve been truly healthy, I’m excited about getting everything fixed and kind of starting clean next year.”
Danks, 27, finishes the season 3-4 with a 5.70 ERA in nine starts. He surrendered three hits in 61⁄3 scoreless innings May 19 against the Cubs, his final start. Danks signed a five-year, $65 million extension during the offseason.
“I was definitely on board with trying to just treat it, trying to get back that way,” Danks said. “But certainly, there came a time when we had to start thinking about next year, and we feel like we’ve given ourselves enough time where we get this done now, and that gives us time to get ready for next year.”
Sale ready: A rested Chris Sale is eager to return to the mound.
Sale starts Monday’s series opener against Kansas City after receiving nine days of rest between starts in an attempt to revive a dead arm. He threw 109 pitches in his last outing, however, his two-seam fastball clocked in below average at 90.2 mph. Sale often has thrown at least 92 mph earlier this season.
“On occasion, I’ll peak up there and be like, ‘Man, I thought I was throwing a little bit harder than that,’ ” Sale said. “Yeah, it’s something that I knew this was going to happen. I didn’t expect myself to be throwing hard the entire season, especially later on getting into August and September. But for right now, it’s just finding a way.”
Sale has pitched 124 innings this year, but the Sox have no plans to shut him down when he reaches a certain number, as the Washington Nationals plan to do with Stephen Strasburg.
“At the end of the day, it’s their call, not ours,” Sale said. “We’re the players and we go out there and play hard and whenever they want us to play, we do. At the end of the day, they have the final say so, we just have to respect them and trust that they know what they’re doing and everything will work out in the end.”
Quick hits: The Sox rank third in the majors with 132 home runs, which includes 53 in their past 31 home games. … The Cardinals and the Sox are the only two teams to feature five players with at least 15 home runs.
