Boston ace Chris Sale will be 34 in 2023. He has a career ERA of 3.03 and is an all-time leader in strikes per nine rounds and strike-to-walk ratio. From 2013 to 2018, Sale has never finished worse than fifth place in AL Cy Young’s vote. He’s also only thrown 48.1 turns since the start of 2020 – already fell victim to some nasty injury that forced him off the field because most of the past three seasons. Tommy John’s surgery cost him all of 2020 and most of 2021. 2022 saw Sale start on IL with a rib strain fracture and after a short return , Sale missed the rest of the season with a broken pinkie due to a return and then a broken wrist from a bike accident.
In the limited period of Sales on the Mound over the past three years, he has shown signs of returning to form, going 5-2 and holding a 3.17 ERA, but it is very limited, plus the stats other fundamentals such as 3.54 FIP, 1.303 WHIP, and reduced strike rates also cause concern. Sale’s potential, however, cannot be underestimated, and with the Red Sox seemingly being rebuilt, has allowed stars like Xander Bogaerts, JD Martinez and Nathan Eovaldi to leave in free agency. While the Red Sox have offset some of those losses with the additions of Kenley Jansen, former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and Japanese midfielder Masataka Yoshida, it’s clear the team isn’t aiming to play in 2022. in a similar way. over the years, and with that, perhaps the trade bloc is the best way to move Boston forward. Boston’s baseball director, Chaim Bloom, said so after the team lost Bogaerts to the Padres, saying sport, “I really think the commercial market could be a really good avenue for further impact for our club.” The first name on the board is most likely Sale.
Heyman reminds us that Sale has a total ban on buying and selling, so if the Red Sox wants to move Sale, it has to be a team that Sale approves of, which could very well be a competitor.
But is a contesting team willing to risk the prospect for an aging pitcher who can’t be fit? Probably a lot really. Given the injuries that Sale suffered most recently, it’s easy to assume he won’t contract similar illnesses in the future. Someone back broke his little finger? It was a stroke of luck. A bicycle accident? He’ll probably wear a wrist guard next time. It reminds me of when people considered Keenan Allen to be a traumatized person after he was traumatized. torn kidney in 2015. Yes, he tore his ACL the following year, but the unfortunate timing of these injuries one after another convinced some NFL fans that Allen wasn’t a commodity. forever. Well, he only missed three games over the course of the next five seasons.
Sale is most likely in a similar boat. Sure, he’s a decade older than Allen, but with pitchers’ fitness age on the rise, Sale may still have a few good years left in him. For a win-now team, Sale – who has two years left on his contract – can be a risky endeavor with a profits are high and if it doesn’t work out, he’ll be gone after two seasons.
With that said, the San Diego Padres are the first team that makes a lot of sense. With the Dodgers losing some important pieces This season, there has never been a hotter iron worth it in the NL West. They expressed their desire to go all out for the World Series with the addition of Xander Bogaerts and Juan Soto, and expressed satisfaction. eager to improve their starting rotation. Although they have been reported to be more interested in deals for/signs young arms for long-term trades, Discount is a potential short-term solution to a spin that currently only has one left-hander — Blake Snell.
Cardinals and Astros are two other teams that can proceed to Sell. With the loss of Verlander, the Astros will no doubt be looking for a top arm to improve their title defense. Meanwhile, the Cardinals, who have so many commercial chips that a rebuilding team like the Red Sox would be interested and just signed their next franchise in Willson Contreras, might be interested in creating out their next great battery duo.
It’s hard to come across a senior male player these days, and Sale has the ability to instantly turn any team’s rotation into one of the best in the league. However, with his trade ban further complicating matters, trading partners are probably limited to major market competitors. Sure, some teams will be willing to go into Sales, and I’m willing to bet, minus another unlucky injury, that team will be surprised.
