The Chicago White Sox are in a good spot with their pitching. We used to wonder if they will ever get elite starters again once they traded Chris Sale away but they have. Now, it appears that trading him to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and two other players was a big win.
Of course, Boston did well in the trade too because Sale was a dominant starter for them when it first happened. He was the ace of a staff that won the World Series in 2018. He even closed out the final clinching game when he struck out Manny Machado.
He is still great but he has been hurt a lot lately. He missed most of the 2021 season and was never able to get in a rhythm when he did return. Now, 2022 is off to a bad start for him as well as he is injured again.
Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom announced that Sale is going to miss the beginning of the season with a stress fracture on his right rib cage. That is about as tough of news as the Red Sox could get. They made a miracle run to the ALCS in 2021 and adding the good version of Sale could go a long way in helping them have a second good run in a row.
The Chicago White Sox saw Chris Sale have some really good years for them.
Boston is not as deep with pitching as you would think. The White Sox are significantly better in that department but they had to play the Houston Astros in the ALDS instead of the ALCS like the Red Sox. Neither group of Sox was able to beat them.
While Sale is out, the players that he was traded for are looking to have a huge year in Chicago. Yoan Moncada had a good year in 2021 but he needs to add more power to his game. If he does, that would be a complete game-changer for the White Sox.
Meanwhile, Michael Kopech is trying to move from the bullpen to the starting rotation as he is being eased back in. It was a good trade for both sides as one was trying to win at the moment and the other was building for the future.
Both of those things are happening. Hopefully, Sale is good to go by the time the Red Sox visits the south side of Chicago later this year. It would be nice to see the old ace face off against his former team again.