Rival White Sox Curiously Re-sign John Danks for 5 years, $65 Million

While the Detroit Tigers appear to have a clear direction for the franchise, it couldn’t be farther from the truth for their rivals in the South Side of Chicago.

Since White Sox GM Kenny Williams and former coach Ozzie Guillen mutually agreed to part ways late in the 2011 season, the White Sox appeared to be heading for a full rebuild.  In fact, Williams admitted as much…even uttering the dreaded “r-word”.  To this point, the White Sox’ actions have matched Williams proclemation.  They were completely silent in free agency, they traded closer Sergio Santos for a prospect, let ace Mark Buehrle walk without much of a fight and dangled nearly every other valuable player out on the market.  However, today word has come out of Chicago that left-handed starter John Danks has re-upped with the Sox for 5 years, $65 Million.

While the numbers are acceptable, clearly Kenny Williams is having second thoughts about the rebuild since Danks is probably the most valuable player, trade value-wise, that he has on his roster.  As this move is a clear 180 from the direction we thought the Sox would be heading, you can’t help but wonder if the money locked into guys like Alex Rios and Adam Dunn is forcing Williams hand to put out a competitive product next year.  Whatever direction the organization is actually heading, it will be interesting to see how the Tigers’ once most fearsome foe will continue to move forward this off-season.