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The Boston Red Sox are reportedly not actively buying Chris Sale, but they are “willing to hear” any suitable offers.
according to John Heyman of new york postwhen other teams asked about availability for the sale, the American League East team said, “While we have no intention of trading starters, we view rotation as an area of depth and are at least willing to listen and consider.”
Trades must be approved by the starting pitcher given the full no-trade clause.
The sale isn’t set to become a free agent until 2025, so teams that trade for him can get him on loan for more than a year.
It also increases the risk of serious injury.
The southpaw missed the shortened 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and made just nine starts in 2021. The 2022 season was only the beginning of the concerns, as the spring had a stress fracture in his right rib cage, a broken pinky finger prior to his training. He injured his finger when he was hit by a line drive at Yankee Stadium in July and broke his wrist in a bicycle accident.
“You couldn’t make up for this, right?” baseball chief executive Chime Bloom said in August, according to Ian Brown of MLB.com. “We need to send some people out to find and retrieve the person holding the Chris Sale voodoo doll.”
Overall, Sale made just two starts last season.
He was one of the best pitchers in baseball before this string of injuries, and has a resume that includes seven All-Star selections and a World Series crown. He was in the top six in the American League Cy Young voting for seven consecutive years from 2012 to 2018.
Sale led the league in strikeouts in 2015 and 2017 and boasts a career 3.03 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.
The 33-year-old must prove he’s not past his prime and can stay on the field in 2023, but he’ll be a high-ceilinged trade target for teams looking to increase their starting rotation.
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