Market for Chris Sale is shrinking

Perhaps it’s part of teams negotiating tactic to help drive the price down to acquire Chris Sale, but according to Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal, the market is shrinking.

The Texas Rangers weren’t the best fit as they traded some of their best prospects in July for Jonathan Lucroy, but if it’s true that Houston is pulling out of the race that hurts a bit. Earlier today they signed Carlos Beltran for a one year, $16 million reunion deal that will see Beltran as their primary designated hitter. They still need help on the starting pitching front and maybe they are not willing to part ways with Alex Bregman quite yet.

Boston has been a popular destination for White Sox fans in moving Sale there, but according to Rosenthal they are only interested if the price lowers.

Which brings the market from five teams down to two: Washington and Atlanta. The Nationals are still hot for Pittsburgh Pirates OF Andrew McCutchen and depending on who they give in that deal, may knock them out of the running to get Sale. Atlanta has been part of the rumors for about a month now, but a concern is the lack of position player prospects that could win over the Sox front office.

Not the best of news for fans that were hoping the White Sox rebuild would start rolling. Again, this could be part of negotiating tactics but it doesn’t appear at the moment that many teams are willing to give the Sox what they want for Sale. Which puts the ball in Rick Hahn’s court on what to do next. Do you pull Chris Sale off the market and focus moving other players? Or, do you lower the cost to get the rebuild started?