According to Buster Olney on Twitter, the Chicago White Sox are in rebuilding mode. They have many players that teams would find attractive, including Jose Abreu, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, and Melky Cabrera. Clearly, though, their most valuable piece is left-handed starting pitcher Chris Sale.
Unfortunately, according to Jon Heyman on Twitter, the Atlanta Braves are interested in acquiring his services. The Washington Nationals are also interested. They both have a real shot of landing him because they have very strong farm systems with a plethora of young players the rebuilding White Sox would want.
Sale, 27, is one of the nastiest pitchers in the game. Since becoming a starter in 2012, he has been an All Star every year and hasn’t finished lower than 6th in Cy Young voting, going 70-47 with a 3.04 ERA. In 1015.2 innings, he has struck out 1133 batters and pitching to a 1.061 WHIP. He has struck out at least 200 batters every year since 2013, whiffing 274 in 2015.
Sale is also highly sought after because of his relatively cheap contract. He will make $12 million in 2017, with options for 2018 and 2019 for $12.5 million and $15 million respectively. Unless he signs an extension, he will be a free agent after the 2019 season before his age 31 season.
The Braves have already signed former Met starters R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon this offseason. They already had Julio Teheran, so the addition of Sale would make for a pretty strong rotation.
They have also been linked to Chris Archer (more on that here), but it’s hard to imagine they have the means to acquire both aces.
The Nationals as of now have a strong rotation including Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Tanner Roark, and Joe Ross. It’s reasonable to assume Roark and/or Ross would be moving to Chicago if the Nationals ended up trading for Sale.
If either of these two teams added Chris Sale, it would obviously have an immediate effect on the Mets. If the Braves acquired him, they certainly wouldn’t be thrust into a contending role right away, but if the Nationals signed him, they would solidify themselves at the top of the division with the Mets for years to come.
