White Sox designate John Danks for assignment

The White Sox have designated veteran left-hander John Danks for assignment, as first reported by Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com. The team will likely release Danks within the next ten days after he refused the team's request to go to the minor leagues.

Danks, 31, has been with the White Sox since 2007, spending his entire 10-year major-league career with the club. He has struggled to an unsightly 7.25 ERA in four starts so far this season, pulling down the performance of an otherwise-solid rotation that has seen strong performances so far from Chris Sale, Mat Latos, Jose Quintana and Carlos Rodon.

Danks is owed $15.75 million for the rest of the season, meaning no team will claim him off outright waivers and that a release is likely in the next ten days. Rebuilding clubs may be interested in adding Danks as a back-end veteran rotation piece, though a minor-league deal is considered possible as well after his ugly performance to start the year.

Danks will be immediately replaced by Erik Johnson in the team's rotation, though Jacob Turner and Miguel Gonzalez are considered to be options as well. Johnson will start Thursday against the Red Sox.

In 10 seasons with the ChiSox, Danks posted a career 79-104 record and 4.38 ERA while pitching more than 170 innings in six different seasons. He signed a 5-year, $65 million extension in December 2011, and was slated to become a free agent this winter.