Washington Nationals Rumors: Nats Inquire About Chris Sale

Yesterday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweeted that the Washington Nationals have called the White Sox about Chris Sale

This past season, the Washington Nationals had one of the best starting rotations in the game. They had the second lowest starters’ ERA (3.60), threw the sixth most innings, and led the league in strikeouts (987). Is there a chance that the Nats could add to an already strong rotation?

Yesterday afternoon, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweeted that the Washington Nationals have called the Chicago White Sox about their ace, Chris Sale, but there is nothing serious as of right now:

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Sale has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the past few seasons. In 2016, he went 17-10 with a 3.34 ERA in 32 games (six complete games). He was in the top five in strikeouts, innings pitched, wins, and WHIP. The 27-year-old left-hander has struck out 200+ batters in each of the last four seasons.

The White Sox have not made it to the postseason sinc33 2008 and have won less than 80 games in four straight seasons. Even with a new manager (Rick Renteria), the White Sox could be looking to build for the future. They could get a lot for Sale, who has one guaranteed year and two team options ($12.5 million in 2018 and $13.5 million in 2019).

With this latest rumor, I wanted to get the thoughts from the White Sox perspective on what the Washington Nationals would have to give up to get the 27-year-old left-hander. Here is what the site expert at Southside Showdown, Etheria Modacure, would want from the Nats for Sale:

"” Lucas Giolito, Trea Turner, Reynaldo Lopez, Sheldon Neuse“"

If the Washington Nationals were to not get an elite closer this winter, then Sale would make sense to add to the rotation. He is guaranteed to go 200+ innings and be another strikeout machine to pair with Max Scherzer. Plus, the Nats could then use some of their rotation depth as trade bait to help their bullpen.

While adding Sale to this rotation would be great and would make the rotation the best in the game, I don’t see this kind of deal happening. Mike Rizzo isn’t going to give up the great package the White Sox will want for Sale and he’s not been known to make a trade that will empty a farm system.

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So, while trading for Sale would be excellent for the Washington Nationals chances to win the World Series, don’t expect him to be wearing a curly W uniform in 2017.