Fangraphs on Sale trade value.

Duke to Cardinals for Charlie Tilson.

Tilson is a speedy outfielder with supposedly decent plate discipline from Winnetka.

Kid was going to be an Illini baseball player before the Cards took him in 2nd round and got him to commit to MLB.

I'll reserve judgement. We don't have an answer in CF right now, this guy sounds alot like One Dog. That would be a great return for Duke. He was a luxury piece on the current team.

I'd send Robertson if it would net Puig. Both have tangible upside but have disappointed recently.

If this Red Sox fan's blog (over the Monster) is true, no wonder why no deal for Sale materialized

So the final package would be something like Travis (or Devers or Benintendi), Espinoza, Craig, $18 million, and two others for Sale.

(Side note: Craig has basically become a "the Aristocrats!" style punchline to any and all trade rumors.)

That offer hit Twitter, and of course generated no shortage of reactions, and so here we are.

The thing about that proposal is: it's not completely crazy. Well, at least not in some ways. That it provisionally centers on Sam Travis, giving him all the stock of a Benintendi or Devers based on spring training is perhaps just a concession to more casual fans/readers, but certainly wouldn't fly in reality.

Still, if the package seems light even with Benintendi or Devers in Travis' place, it's actually about what Sale's value should be at right now, taking all factors into account. Assuming whatever team he's on picks up both team options, Sale will be owed just north of $47 million over the next four years. That's an incredible bargain for a player of his talent, which does give us a pretty high baseline to start from.

But the fact is that recent history works against the White Sox here. 2015 was the worst season of Sale's career by a fair margin in terms of results, as he pitched to a 3.41 ERA in 208 innings. Certainly a productive season, but not at the level expected of him.

The peripherals do speak highly for Sale. He actually struck out more batters than ever before by a decent margin. And if you really look at why his runs spiked, the answer lies mostly in playing in front of the league's most atrocious defense. He should be hurt less by that given all the strikeouts, and there's something to be said for the fact that hitters managed more line drives against him than usual and his home run rate spiked. Lots of that could just be noise in the statistics, but it's still hard to completely wipe away the results, leaving Sale worth slightly less today than he has been at other times in his career.

And there is, of course, the clubhouse issue. Sale being upset with ownership might leave the team in an awkward position at the bargaining table. It also makes Kenny Williams an even wilder wild card than usual. It's hard to be certain of much of anything when it comes to Williams, and Dave Dombrowski should certainly be checking in to see what he's thinking given that he's got nothing to lose in doing so.


But if the door seems more open to a Chris Sale trade now than in years gone by, that doesn't mean it actually is. Chris Sale is the White Sox right now. More so than Kenny Williams is, certainly. Likely to the point that ownership would step in if Williams felt slighted enough to make a trade. And certainly if Williams is feeling calm about the whole thing, he'll know that this isn't the time to be dealing his ace on the back of his worst season by ERA. Sure, the White Sox are incurring some small risk that this is just what Sale is going forward--a good pitcher still, but not a great one. It seems unlikely given his age, peripherals, and past, but a rough year, even if it's mostly in terms of results, can't be completely ignored.

But that risk is one they'll be pretty happy to take given Sale's low impact on payroll, incredible talent, and stature with the team, to the point where they likely won't be willing to part with him for anything less that a pre-2016 price. If the Globe's offer isn't too far off the assessor's price for Chris Sale, if you will, the practical price for the White Sox is likely a decent bit higher.

Does Boston have the assets to make a Chris Sale trade? Absolutely. They have Betts, Bogaerts, Swihart, Moncada, Benintendi, Devers, Espinoza...the list goes on! Is there any offer out there that will make both teams happy enough to sign on the bottom line?

So the final package would be something like Travis (or Devers or Benintendi), Espinoza, Craig, $18 million, and two others for Sale.

I would not have taken that package for Sale. Bet that 18M was tempting to our cheap owner however.

Dombrowski will not work for Reinsdorf (JR let Hawk can Dombrowski way back when Hawk was the GM)

Reinsdorf needs to throw a sh*t ton of $$$ at John McDonough and have him run the whole shebang.

Puig, anybody here want him?



Looks like anybody who wants him can have him.

I agree with ISF. If nothing else, he could be good trade bait in the off season for the claiming club if the Dodgers let him go.

If the Dodgers want to get rid of him that badly why would we want him? The Sox have enough issues as it is. Is he worth the headaches?

Rule, its because Puig is too talented and we have a good record with Cuban players. We are a known conduit for Cuban players.