John Danks will be your 5th starter

I was really excited Friday afternoon -- and no, it wasn't because I somehow still held onto a slim lead in the South Side Sox Bracket Showdown -- It had everything to do with the first televised battle of the spring between John Danks and Gavin Floyd. The rain-shortened contest was a bit of a letdown. And the truth is the winner may have already been decided by the time the first pitch was thrown, as the surprise roster move of Sean Tracey off the 40-man roster (He was subsequently claimed by Baltimore.) seems to have tipped the Sox hand.

Danks absence from the Sox 40-man roster would necessitate a move should they chose to bring the 21 year-old left-hander north. That move appears to be Sean Tracey's departure.

While neither Danks nor Floyd were particularly impressive on Friday, my personal choice for the 5th starter role would be Danks based on the fact that he seems more likely to succeed thanks to his ability to throw strikes. Ozzie shares my sentiment.

Of course, that quote comes immediately after Danks, who entered the game having issued just one walk this spring, struggled to command all of his pitches and walked 3 in his scoreless 4 innings of work. Danks was helped by a couple of dumb baserunning plays by the Rockies, a pickoff move, and a double play on the first pitch after a failed sacrifice attempt. His box score may have looked pretty, and the truth is not a single ball was hit hard off of him, but he really only had to record two outs in each inning.

I'm not trying to diminish Danks' outing. It's just that if he threw like he did Friday in his first start at the big league level, there's a good chance the Sox would see a different result.

Of course, you can spin that completely in the other direction too. Danks got through 4 innings unscathed against a major league line-up without his best stuff or his usual command. It's all a matter of perspective.

Floyd's outing is tougher to spin. He did have to deal with some nasty weather and came in to pitch an inning earlier than expected, but 5 runs is hard to talk away when your main competition is putting up goose eggs.