In a surprising turn of events due to their miserable season, the Chicago White Sox might be open for business for about everyone on their roster, including Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, which would interest both the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers very much.
The White Sox have fallen to three games under .500, and making the playoffs seem like an unrealistic ending to this season, despite all the changes they made on the fly, trying to get their early form going again. Considering the contracts they have on the team, except for Adam Eaton and Jose Abreu, everyone is a possible sell, including Sale and Quintana, both All-Stars this season, but Sale is the real prize here if the White Sox actually intend on giving him away.
Right now, many believe the White Sox are simply gauging the market, and don’t really feel like giving up on two starting pitchers who can be aces anywhere. Sale is 14-3 this year with a 3.18 ERA, leading baseball in innings pitched (133), has a 1.008 WHIP and a 4.45 strikeout to walk ratio, which is very good, but a bit down compared to the last two seasons, as his strikeouts per nine innings are down to 8.7. Quintana has a 3.13 ERA, a 1.132 WHIP and is striking out 8.2 batters per nine innings, and has a 3.61 strikeout to walk ratio.
But if the White Sox get a big package of almost MLB-ready players, they’re going to think long and hard about trading away their two best pitchers. David Robertson is another player they’re getting calls about, probably from Boston, but at some point the endless line of prospects the Red Sox have is going to end. They’ve already added a starter (Drew Pomeranz) and reliever (Brad Ziegler). They have a deep farm system, but it’s not a bottomless pit.
Another thing that makes both Sale and Quintana this attractive is their contracts. Sale makes $12 million in 2017, and then come two years with team options for $12.5 million and $13.5 million, making it an incredible deal for anyone who controls his contract. Quintana makes $7 million in 2017 and $8.85 million in 2018, before two years of team options: $10.5 million in 2019, $11.5 million in 2020. Both of them are only 27.
The Dodgers might be a bit more pressed to go after one of the two considering Clayton Kershaw could have played his last game of the season, with back surgery and getting shut down a very likely possibility. Both the Red Sox and the Dodgers aren’t in bad shape, especially Boston in the AL East, but both teams have been looking to improve their pitching situations for a long time, and have the ability to make a deal of this magnitude happen. If the White Sox do decide to sell, which means something of a tear down, it’s very likely it’ll be a deal with either Boston or LA.