Trade Deadline Rumors? No Danks.

Rumors are aplenty this time of year.  No team or player are exempt.  Some are no brainers, others can leave you baffled.

One of the trade rumors flying around this morning (while all the “unofficial” reports of the Jackson/Teahan trade were being parroted) was that both Gavin Floyd and John Danks could be potential commodities, should Kenny Williams decide to become a seller this trade deadline.  The appeal is obvious; two quality pitchers whose contracts don’t expire at the end of the season.  Gold.

Gavin Floyd is a quality pitcher that many teams would love to have starting for them, make no mistake about it.  But Floyd’s stuff just isn’t Ace-worthy– he’ll always be a middle starter.

However, many people consider John Danks to be the heir apparent to the number one spot once Mark Buehrle departs (as he eventually will, either with his longtime team crush the Cardinals, or retirement).

Kenny Williams has always been the kind of guy who never tips his hand before pulling the trigger on a trade.  It would be interesting to see how Danks’ outing today would play into a trade deal (striking out a career high ten batters and making the Tigers lineup look foolish with his cutter).  His stock is certainly high.

But with the White Sox taking two of three from Division leading Detroit (and almost handing Verlander his second loss in a week), the ground before Kenny Williams may have gotten a bit firmer.  Being only 3.5 games back in a Division where teams seem to be fighting to give each other first place, KW would be hard pressed to go on a massive fire sale in an effort to rebuild for future seasons.  So while more trades are possible, the likelihood of any major selloff happening are pretty slim.

That being said though, you just never know with KW.

Here’s hoping that we’ll be able to continue writing punny headlines for John throughout the rest of the season, and not have to end it with “So long John, and Danks for the memories.”

You may commence with the groaning now.

Photo credit: (Paul Beaty / Associated Press)