MLB trade rumors: Red Sox – Chris Sale talk heats up after jersey incident

ESPN.com ran a curious headline this week of “If White Sox get serious about selling Chris Sale, Red Sox would have to listen.”

Listen to a team trying to sell you on the best pitcher in the American League? As the kids say these days, “obvi.”

Red Sox boss Dave Dombrowski recalled last year’s trade deadline in the piece, saying that it was the teams with the big guns that were calling the teams with the pu pu platter of prospects in the closing minutes before the deadline. Conventional thinking leads you to believe that most blockbusters are done with the quarters teams calling the dollar teams initially and the dollar teams eventually caving. That’s not always the case, according to Dombrowki in Scott Lauber’s piece.

“If you wait, I remember last year at the very end, I’m not going to say who, but I remember there were a couple clubs that were looking for [a big return], and on July 31, they were calling around and saying, ‘Would you take this guy?'” Dombrowski said. “That could happen this year, too. I think it’s a fun time. It’s something we really need to keep abreast of, and our people do a good job of that.”

As for the price tag for Sale, as we outlined last week – it would take the world, even after Sale’s ugly jersey episode. Here’s an idea of what it would take:

Yoan Moncada (ranked the 5th overall prospect by MLB.com)

Travis Shaw (Red Sox’ starting third baseman)

Rafael Devers (ranked the 15^th overall prospect by MLB.com)

Michael Kopech (now the top ranked pitcher in Sox’ farm system with loss of Anderson Espinoza)

A deal like this would strip the Red Sox of nearly all of their top prospects, outside of Andrew Benintendi, but Dombrowski is certainly the ultimate “all-in” baseball executive and the Sox are knocking on the door of World Series contention this year. If the White Sox want to dance, the Red Sox will certainly be willing partners.