Q/A About Atlanta Braves’ Pursuit of Chris Sale
Q: What Would a Sale Trade Do to the Payroll?
With his (still remarkably ‘affordable’) $12,000,000 salary, Sale would be the second highest paid pitcher on the club, tie with Jaime Garcia, and a large sandwich behind Bartolo Colon ($12.5m).
The Braves’ payroll would jump to an all-time high of $125 million… depending on other moves that might need to be made.
The team would certainly do it for Sale, but uncertain about anything more.
Q: What Would the Rotation Look Like With Sale?
Chris Sale, Julio Teheran, Jaime Garcia, R.A. Dickey, and Bartolo Colon in some order: two southpaws, two right-handers, and a knuckle-baller. That’ll work.
Pushed back… or possibly traded away in the carnage of The Deal would be Mike Foltynewicz, Matt Wisler, and Josh Collmenter. I’m just going to guess that Collmenter becomes the “sixth pitcher” with the other pair of youngsters perhaps both being dealt to Chicago, but that’s part of the pitfall in trying to guess what the Braves might be inclined to do here: key pieces would have to be involved at some level.
Note that by rule, neither Dickey or Colon would be traded away before June – to anybody. These previous moves are independent of any pursuit of sale, but only Jaime Garcia would be tradeable before June 15.
Another note: If Sale becomes a Brave, the team might have to consider another veteran free agent spending spree for 2018 if the rotation has gaps. But that would be the easy task, relatively speaking.
Q: Shouldn’t the Braves trade Teheran to make for an easier deal?
No – for 2 reasons.
- It’s counterproductive. If the Braves are really ‘going for it’, the removal of Teheran from the rotation damages that goal.
- The White Sox need volume in addition to quality in such a trade. They already have a guy better than Teheran, so sending him back doesn’t really address their goals – especially if they can get, say three more young guys instead.
I suppose the Sox could do this and then try and flip Teheran elsewhere, but that’s delving into the unknown to some extent. Just a lot cleaner to go with one deal for what you want.
Q: Shouldn’t the Braves go after Chris Archer or Jose Quintana instead?
Archer: his cost to obtain would be just about as bad as Sale, given the longer period of control. But he’s also not quite at Sale’s level of expertise and is coming off of a ‘down’ year for him.
This is why the Braves seem to be putting most of their effort toward Sale.
Quintana: He’s good, yes. But with just 2 years of control and a notch below Sale, he’s not as attractive a target. If you’re going to break the prospect bank, 2 years just doesn’t feel like it would be enough, especially when some of the players you’re giving up would still have 6 years of control.
It appears that Atlanta is going at this with the attitude of ‘Sale or nothing.’
Q: Would Adding Sale Be Enough?
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If Sale is obtained, a 3 year clock begins ticking and the goal is getting him is obviously ‘going to a World Series.’ So you’d then want to ask…
- Sale and Todd Frazier?
- Evan Longoria? (really doubtful on this one, given EL’s contract and this would mean another prospect laden deal)
- A run at Justin Turner? Much more possible, though at a cost.
If the Braves intend to “go for it”, then you’d have to think that such additional moves to augment the third base position would also be on the table.
But there are some issues:
- In Turner, the move would be a budget buster – MLBTR predicts $17 million annually for 5 years to sign him. Add Sale and Turner and we’re suddenly over $140 million for the payroll. Wow.
- With either Longoria or Turner, third base would be blocked for quite a while. Unless you think that Adonis Garcia, Rio Ruiz and/or Austin Riley are all dealt away via trade, then adding these guys with longer contracts makes little sense.
- With Frazier, it’s only a single-year commitment, which almost makes less sense since the Braves would have to solve third base again after 2018.
- If the Braves do not upgrade the position, then they are believing that Garcia and maybe Ruiz are sufficient. Not too many would be convinced.
One final thought. Of all the reasons for pursuing Sale, here’s the dumbest one I’ve seen: ‘Sale lives in Naples, FL – close to one of the possible landing sites for a new Braves Spring Training home.’
Why is this dumb? Because if this happens, Sale’s last current contract year (counting options) is 2019… the first year a new Spring venue would be open for business.