When the White Sox shopped Chris Sale, the team wanted to receive top value in return.
The Red Sox acquired Sale. To date, Boston has to be thrilled with his performance.
In 21 starts this season, Sale is 13-4, 2.37 ERA, 211 K, 0.876 WHIP and 5.3 WAR. He is clearly on pace for serious consideration for MVP voting.
The White Sox received several highly touted prospects for Sale: infielder Yoan Moncada, rated the #1 prospect in baseball by some scouts, hard throwing pitcher Michael Kopech along with minor leaguers Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz.
Moncada has made his Sox debut. He hit his first major league HR off the Cubs. He projects to be one of GM Rick Hahn's "core" players in the rebuild. The Sox did not plan to rush him to the majors. But in 23 ABs, he is hitting only .130, with 1 HR and 5 RBI.
The trade will make sense for Chicago if Moncada is an above average middle infielder with power and that Kopech becomes a #1 starter in the majors. Power pitchers have a tendency to break down faster due to control issues. Sale became a dominant starter when he learned to pull back his velocity, change speeds and play to soft contact to preserve his arm from stressful innings.
The White Sox have a strong history of developing quality pitchers so it seems Kopech is in a good system to succeed. If the White Sox get two All-Stars for one, then both teams can claim they got a bargain in the trade.
