Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
With the Major League regular season just a few days away from ending, we’re about to hear some trade rumors begin to ramp up as far as the non-contenders are concerned. One name that figures to be hot and heavy in rumors is that of Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale.
Sale’s name was floating around before the trade deadline, but that seemed to be more of a “should they?” situation than anything. The White Sox held onto him, and they may continue doing so. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be talks this winter.
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The White Sox may have one of the worst clubs in baseball overall, but they have one of the very best starters in baseball on their roster. Sale has ranked at or near the top of virtually every pitching statistic this season, and is considered a serious contender for the Cy Young Award in the American League.
There is an argument here to be made in favor of trading Chris Sale. You could simply point out the fact that the White Sox are an organization going nowhere fast. They have one of the worst farm systems in all of baseball, and could use an arm like his to replenish that system.
Sale would go a long way towards improving their current status as far as their organizational depth is concerned. An arm like that gets you an impact prospect and more. At the same time, though, you have a guy who’s an ace now and a sure thing, and you’d be moving him for an unknown quantity.
The bottom line is this: we don’t know if the White Sox are going to trade Chris Sale this winter. We don’t even know if they’ll shop him. But they’ll field more than a few calls on him, no doubt about it, and they’d be foolish to not at least consider moving the starter in order to get better for the long term.
