As the Chicago White Sox continue their free fall in the American League Central, Chris Sale’s future is going to be a hot topic of conversation before the August 1 trade deadline.
Continue for updates.
Rangers Pursuing Sale
Friday, July 22
TR Sullivan of MLB.com reported the Texas Rangers are making a “serious effort” to pry Sale away from the White Sox, noting Chicago wants top Rangers prospect Joey Gallo and former top prospect Jurickson Profar in return.
Report: White Sox Rejected Big Offer
Thursday, July 21
Per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, an unnamed team offered the White Sox a “king’s ransom” for Sale within the last 48 hours and was given a “no” by Chicago.
White Sox Face Tough Decision With Sale’s Elite Talent, Team-Friendly Contract
There are two trains of thought for the White Sox when determining how to handle Sale.
On the one hand, Sale is one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball and has finished in the top six of American League Cy Young voting each of the last four years. He’s signed through 2017 with two team options for 2018 and 2019 totaling $26 million, per Baseball-Reference.com.
That contract allows the White Sox to ask any team interested in Sale for anything and everything they want. It’s hard enough to find an ace like Sale, let alone have him signed to such a team-friendly deal, that trading him would be difficult to justify.
On the other hand, the White Sox are a team that has a lot of holes to fill on their MLB roster. Adam Eaton and Melky Cabrera are their only regulars with an on-base percentage higher than .324.
Todd Frazier hits a lot of home runs, but you can’t really work with a .217 average and .304 on-base percentage. Jose Abreu’s performance has dropped each of the last two years since he was named American League Rookie of the Year in 2014. Brett Lawrie has proven throughout his career that he’s not a starting second baseman.
They inexplicably traded for James Shields, who has pitched better in July but still has a 4.99 ERA in 20 starts this season.
The White Sox do have another No. 1 starter in Jose Quintana, who also has a favorable contract that is guaranteed through 2018 with team options for 2019 and 2020.
At some point, a team has to accept that spending $100-plus million every year to win 75-80 games isn’t a smart strategy. The White Sox don’t seem to be there yet, but they need to get there soon or things will spiral out of control in a hurry for this franchise.
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