Daily Jolt: Pulse of White Sox in Pitching

The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.

The White Sox are in the same place they ended 2008, tied atop a heap of clubs in the AL Central that all have designs on contention in 2009. John Danks' gem Thursday night against the Rays hurtled Chicago into a deadlock with the Tigers and Royals at 5-4.

Just 24, the left-hander is 1-0 on the season with a 0.75 ERA and has 13 strikeouts in 12 innings this season.

The Central division seems almost impossible to figure out at this stage, and indeed it could take until August or even September for the wheat to separate from the chaff.

But if the White Sox end up as the former once again, Danks and the rest of their steady rotation will be a huge reason why.

Chicago spent much of the offseason getting rid of assets. Gone is shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who was a stalwart in the middle of the infield for the Sox last year, missing only two regular seasons. Gone too are Nick Swisher and Joe Crede, both elite performers at various stages in their respective careers.

At first blush, it might seem like the White Sox lost quite a bit of production from a team that won 89 games a year ago. Swisher had the worst offensive season of his career, though. Crede failed to log triple digits in games played. Alexei Ramirez is sliding over to short and with the arrival of Gordon Beckham expected at some point in '09, the middle infield shouldn't be significantly weaker. Then there's Carlos Quentin, who was running away in the AL MVP race until he broke his wrist in September and missed the rest of the regular season.

Yes, the offense should be fine.

And, oh, that rotation.

Mark Buehrle is as consistent a pitching force as there is, having pitched eight consecutive 200-inning seasons, all but one of which was above league average in ERA. Pitching coach Don Cooper seems to have unlocked the potential that made Gavin Floyd the fourth overall selection in the 2001 draft.

And Danks? He looks like a legitimate ace. He throws hard. He is left-handed. He misses bats. Ever since he started throwing a cut fastball last season, he has found another gear.

The White Sox have plenty of starting pitching, and that makes them an anomaly in the AL Central, where Carl Pavano is a No. 3 starter (Indians), Sidney Ponson and Horacio Ramirez make up 2/5ths of a rotation (Royals) and Zach Miner is being counted on for significant innings (Tigers).

Sure, it's hard to know what to expect from Bartolo Colon and Jose Contreras with both coming off of injuries, but Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda are more than serviceable as backup options.

The White Sox might not repeat as division champions. There is upside everywhere else in the Central. The Tigers have a superlative lineup. The Indians have maybe the best player in the league in Grady Sizemore. The Royals could get big things out of Billy Butler and Zack Greinke. And the Twins, with a healthy Joe Mauer, have very few gaping holes.

But Chicago has the fewest question marks in the one place where you most want stability -- the rotation. That bodes well for its chances.