When White Sox general manager Rick Hahn finally broke the bad news to John Danks that seemed inevitable to the rest of Chicago, he did not see a soft-tossing pitcher with no command who had accounted for half his team's losses in April.
Hahn saw the hard-throwing left-hander who started Game 163 of the magical 2008 season for the Sox, the guy who gutted his way through 88 starts after shoulder surgery in 2012, and the folksy 10-year veteran teammates respected as much as any player in the clubhouse.
And Hahn cut Danks anyway because, as difficult as it was, the move represented the right thing for a Sox team serious about contending.