Sox pay Danks; Cubs trade Marshall

Two teams with similar, if not identical, stated organizational plans just made decisions that seem to accomplish differing goals.

The admittedly rebuilding White Sox, who couldn't find money for Mark Buehrle days ago, somewhat curiously chose to lock up 26-year-old lefty John Danks with what's reported to be 5 year, $65 million extension. Meanwhile, the Cubs did what they haven't done for years, if ever — traded a popular, productive player (Sean Marshall) when his value is probably at its peak. The question is whether or not the haul they got from the Reds (left-handed starter Travis Wood and a pair of minor leaguers) is sufficient for a player of Marshall's caliber.

I'll start with Danks and with the positives of keeping him around. To begin, he's a darn good pitcher. He's just entering his prime. The $13 million-a-year price tag is quite reasonable, particularly since it ends when Danks will be only in his early 30s. Theoretically, the Sox could complete a rebuild before the contract ends and have Danks contribute to contending teams in its final year or years ... and then extend him again if he's still productive. With Buehrle gone, Jake Peavy's health a major question mark and Gavin Floyd still an inconsistent enigma, Danks is the fairly clear-cut ace of the Sox for the forseeable future.

The thing is, the same reasons that the Sox wanted to keep Danks around are the same reasons he'd have been so attractive to potential trade partners. There aren't any other players — with the possible exception of Alexei Ramirez — on the roster that could bring back anywhere near the kind of prospect haul Danks could be expected to fetch. I mean, other than those two, the roster consists almost exclusively of guys the Sox would be thrilled just to dump like Peavy and Alex Rios and reclamation projects like Gordon Beckham that might bring a no-name, low-level prospect in return.

How, exactly, does GM Kenny Williams plan to hold onto one of his few great trade chips and rebuild his barren farm system at the same time? He already turned one guy that had value (Sergio Santos) into a single relatively underwhelming minor-league pitcher. The Sox farm system badly needs both quality and quantity, and several weeks into a key offseason for the organziation's future, Williams hasn't been able to add much of either.