The Winter Meetings are in full swing over in National Harbor, Md., and a lot of very smart and well-sourced reporters turned the Hot Stove temperature up to max Monday night with reports that the White Sox are moving closer to dealing Chris Sale.
Sources: Legitimate chance of Sale trade to #Nationals. Robles, Giolito would go to #WhiteSox. Teams haggling over final pieces in deal.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 6, 2016
Nats are making strong progress on Sale. Been working on it all day. They have clear lead.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 6, 2016
Heard what @Ken_Rosenthal said: #Nationals willing to put Giolito/Robles into package. #Whitesox mulling if enough for Sale. — Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 6, 2016
Of course, until Sale is dealt, or a different deal that also signals rebuild — Jose Abreu to the Rockies? — comes to fruition, nothing is certain. But a Buster Olney report indicating the Sox are set on dealing Sale one way or another is, if taken at face value, a troublesome turn of events.
Even if the White Sox are dead-set on a rebuild, backing themselves into a corner because of some sort of internal mandate to get a deal done is something that, one would think, the Sox front office would be smart enough to avoid. Sale is not an impending free agent, and while his trade value will decrease incrementally the longer they wait, the fallback to not getting the deal you want for Sale is, well, getting to have Sale pitch for your team in 2017. I can think of worse consolation prizes, and with the Royals reportedly shopping their core as well, the AL Central is basically the Cleveland Indians and one enormous cellar if the Sox decide to stay the course.
Given the fact that the White Sox are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to trade rumors, and both Heyman and Rosenthal’s reports mentioned Washington specifically as the team closest to a deal, one can reasonably assume that leak came from Washington’s side in an attempt to push out other buyers. So not long after those reports surfaced came a round of refutations.
The #WhiteSox say they’re still having trade talks with several teams about Chris Sale, and no deal with #Nats or anyone expected tonight.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 6, 2016
The #Whitesox did not come close to trading Chris Sale tonight but acknowledge the #Nats were very aggressive in proposals
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 6, 2016
The idea of using the media to further an agenda is part of the game, but regardless of refutations or confirmations, Monday’s reports are the first legitimate signs of the White Sox moving toward a potential deal. And even if Rick Hahn & Co. leave Maryland without a deal in place, it seems increasingly likely that the market to pay Sale’s exorbitant price is building, and the busy winter many predicted for the Sox at the beginning of the offseason will turn up being more true than not.
An argument has been presented in this space on more than one occasion against the idea of rebuilding — if you can’t build competence around this core of talent, when do you expect it to happen? — but as it seems an inevitability at this point, one has to wonder, once the Sale shoe drops, how far they wind up going. It’d be tough to imagine the White Sox pulling the trigger on their best trade chip and not going the distance with impending free agents Melky Cabrera and Todd Frazier, as well as aggressively shopping Abreu, Adam Eaton, and maybe Jose Quintana.
Lead Photo Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
A lot of reports out there are saying the White Sox are pressing to deal Sale over the fear that his mechanics and frame will lead to injury and prevent them from getting value back in a deal. And since they’re in a position to sell and in all likelihood not going to do the things necessary to compete, getting a deal done sooner comes with less risk.
If they deal Sale and replace him with Giolito in the rotation, they’ll have a good chunk of money to address needs if they do intend to try and compete. This is still a good, if not deep, rotation when headed by Quintana, Rodon, and Giolito.
The Sox are in a tough spot because Sale should get you a deal built around a Turner, Moncada, or Bregman, but it seems they have lost some leverage as teams are saying ok keep Sale and put your rebuilding off another year.