Chicago White Sox: 5 Reasons Chris Sale Won’t be Traded
Is it possible that the Chicago White Sox will trade Chris Sale? Here’s why it is highly unlikely they will trade their ace starter.
The Chicago White Sox have appeared to make a decision about the direction of their franchise in the near future. White Sox general manager Rick Hahn spoke on Thursday about how the front office was going to approach the trade deadline. With the team sitting at 46-50, 10.5 games out of their own division and 7.5 out of the wild card, the White Sox appeared to be in the middle not too long ago. Two straight series losses following the All-Star Game has made the decision pretty easy for the White Sox.
Rick Hahn: "We’re mired in mediocrity...We may well have to adjust and take a longer-term view and take a different approach going forward."
— Colleen Kane (@ChiTribKane) July 21, 2016
While Hahn’s comments weren’t incredibly explicit, we can assume that he meant that the White Sox would sell. Whether that means they are willing to part with their assets at the deadline or not remains unknown. With the White Sox possibly headed toward a rebuild, fans have wondered just who will be leaving the team at the deadline or at the end of the year.
The White Sox don’t have a lot of players that will garner interest from teams looking to buy at the deadline. Perhaps David Robertson, Nate Jones, and Melky Cabrera will catch some looks, but the White Sox biggest assets are their starting pitchers. Both Jose Quintana and Chris Sale are on team friendly deals for more than 2 year after this season. The White Sox would get a large package in return for either one of the two pitchers, who have stayed incredibly healthy during their careers, but the White Sox may not be ready to let them go.
Should the White Sox trade Chris Sale? There are many pros and cons, but right now we are going to focus on the White Sox cons of trading him away at the deadline.
Next: Sale on sale
5. Team Friendly Contract Through 2019
The White Sox are well-known for their resistance to spend big money, even when they have the ability to draw big name free agents to their team. When the White Sox have the ability to control high talent level at a low price, they usually hold onto those guys. During most recent memory, this would include players like Mark Buehrle, Paul Konerko, and Frank Thomas who were all essentially home brewed All-Stars.
Chris Sale is the next logical player in that progression of homegrown talent. Sale was drafted in 2010 with the White Sox first round draft pick, in a draft that included incredible talent like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Matt Harvey. The White Sox hit the jackpot with Sale, considering their first round draft picks around Sale included Gordon Beckham, Micah Johnson, and Courtney Hawkins.
Chris Sale’s contract looks incredibly friendly when compared to the contracts that were signed by Zack Greinke and David Price this offseason (and rightfully so considering when Sale signed his). Chris Sale’s contract was signed after his first full year as a starter in 2012, and included a guaranteed 5 years with two additional years of team option. Essentially, the White Sox have Chris Sale locked down through 2019 with a very friendly contract. During the first five years of the contract, Sale will have been paid $32,500,000.
The White Sox treasure cheap contracts for very talented players, so giving up Sale, even for a large amount of talent, would hurt the White Sox budget a lot. In most assumed trade proposals, the White Sox will be targeting position players; if that is true, the White Sox will have to seek starting pitching help elsewhere. They are almost certainly not going to find the same level of talent at that price on the open market.
Next: Rebuild or Retool?
4. White Sox can Quickly Rebuild before 2019
If the White Sox are serious about heading into a rebuild, which they most likely are judging from some of Hahn’s comments from Thursday, they can do it without trading Chris Sale. The farm system is rather bare, but with recent early round draft picks having success they are still in an okay place in terms of producing Major League talent.
The White Sox have the option of trading Jose Quintana for Major League talent, or prospects on the cusp, and hoping that young pitchers like Carlos Rodon can find their groove. Considering the return on Quintana during his very impressive 2016 would be pretty high, this would greatly help the White Sox improve their depth on the positional side of the ball. Chicago would still have to make an addition to the rotation to attempt to replace Quintana, but it could be done.
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The most important thing to note is that the White Sox have the capability of rebuilding with Sale still a member of the organization. If they want to rebuild or retool, that’s great for the organization; however, it doesn’t require trading the best player to play on the team possibly since Frank Thomas. With players like Zack Collins, Carson Fulmer, Carlos Rodon, and Tim Anderson all recently drafted and almost all making an impact at the Major League level the White Sox could quickly rebuild.
By selling some key assets this year and next year, they could be ready to compete in 2018 and 2019. While that only provides a year or two with Sale on his current contract, it may be enough to sway him into signing another deal with the White Sox.
Next: What about the Fans?
3. Trading Sale could Alienate the Fanbase
White Sox fans are often mocked for how little they support a team in such a large market, and their attendance is talked about in a lot of fan circles as being embarrassing. Despite that being pretty misleading about the general White Sox fan, it is true that fans are less likely to show up to games if a team is rebuilding. Rebuilding teams typically lose a lot more games than a team that is trying to compete, which naturally makes fans more reluctant to buy tickets and merchandise.
Chris Sale has incited a ton of interest in White Sox fans in the years he has spent with the team. I don’t know of anyone that keeps track of attendance by pitcher, but I would venture to guess that the attendance at a White Sox game is ~5,000 more at Chris Sale starts than any other game. The White Sox even have a few sections of the ballpark set off as a promotional section for Chris Sale starts called “the K zone” where fans get a free t-shirt and sign. The White Sox have sold Chris Sale for years, and it has mostly worked for them.
Trading Chris Sale would most likely be devastating to every White Sox fan, even the ones who have come to terms with the team deciding to sell. Die hard fans make up the basis of a group of fans, so alienating that group could have dire consequences for a franchise already struggling to put people in seats at the stadium.
In the best case scenario, fans are okay with a rebuild if it doesn’t include selling their longtime favorite players. For example, White Sox fans are likely okay with trading Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera and other similar players. Chicago fans are less likely to be okay with trading Chris Sale, even if the return is monstrous. While front offices don’t always think about the fan directly, they probably should consider it in this case. Chris Sale is a cornerstone of the franchise, and fans would not be happy to see him go in any scenario.
Next: The Return
2. The Return would have to be Huge
Chris Sale has finished in the top 5 of Cy Young voting in each of the past three years, and is arguably the best pitcher in the American League over the past five years. Not only is he one of the best pitchers in the league, but he is also on a very cheap contract relative to his talent. Both of those things combined with the White Sox reluctance to trade a player like Sale mean that a team would have to offer up a big group of players and prospects to get Sale.
This one reason alone provides the trickiest part of any trade involving Chris Sale. A trade would have to include enough talent to pry Sale away from the White Sox, but also not require the other team to give up so much talent that the addition of Sale is a wash anyway. This typically means that not a lot of Major League talent will be traded; however, Chicago should probably be asking for at least one of the players included to be at the Major League level.
There is likely a large gap between what the White Sox want from a trading part and what the trading partner is willing to give up, especially at the Major League level. If the White Sox want, for example, one Major League level player and two or three prospects, that would hurt the receiving team a lot. To give up four players, including a Major League player and top prospect, for one single player usually turns out to be a bad trade.
Most likely Chicago won’t settle for a trade that doesn’t provide the White Sox with a ton of talent because they have quite a few years left of control, but settling for the best offer during this season would definitely hurt the White Sox. The most likely scenario is that no team even offers the White Sox a trade proposal in which they get enough in return.
Next: He's a Star
1. Chris Sale is a Cornerstone of the Franchise
The most important reason that the White Sox shouldn’t trade Chris Sale is that he’s a cornerstone of the franchise. While comparing Chris Sale to Mike Trout is pretty unfair, because Mike Trout has been incredibly good, the White Sox and Angels are in a similar situation regarding the two players. In both cases, the teams could get a good return in a hypothetical trade (assuming a team offers the right price), but they still would be left feeling a bad feeling in their gut.
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Losing a player like Chris Sale, even for an enormous amount of talent, leaves fans, front office members, and coaches alike with a feeling of dread. With the amount of branding the White Sox have centered around Sale, let alone that he’s the best player on the roster, it would be a mistake to trade Sale.
The White Sox have options to rebuild or retool their team that does not include trading Chris Sale. While the burn it to the ground fire sale can be effective, the White Sox truly are better off keeping a player like Sale in the fold through the rebuild. If for no reason other than that he deserves to enter the playoffs with this team after all he has been through during his White Sox career.
Next: Kershaw May Need Surgery
Trading Chris Sale would be a mistake for many reasons, but the biggest reason of all is because of how much he means to the team. He’s consistently been their best player, and occasionally their only All-Star, over the past five years. Trading a young player like him on a good contract could have dire consequences, and it’s simply not worth the risk.