3 possible trade destinations for Chris Sale

Two winters ago, Rick Hahn spent a lot of money and traded away a bunch of prospects to make the Chicago White Sox a good baseball team. It didn't work. Their offense, ostensibly reinforced by the likes of Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche, was the worst in the American League, rendering futile the efforts of a pretty decent pitching staff.

Still, Hahn opted against trading Chris Sale, his team's inimitable left-hander and one of the most sought-after commodities in the league.

In 2016, following an offseason that featured few moves of consequence, the White Sox were bad again, plagued by the same offensive ineptitude (and some new clubhouse friction) that haunted them the season prior.

Now, with no reasons for optimism as 2017 looms, Hahn may have to trade Sale, who earned a fifth straight All-Star appearance this past summer, will make only $38.5 million over the next three years, and is roughly a bajiillion times better than any pitcher available in free agency.

Where might he wind up? Well, here are three possibilities.

Washington Nationals

The Nationals will continue to be good for the foreseeable future after winning three division titles in five years, but they also have the marginal resources to turn their roster into a true juggernaut, if they're actually serious about advancing past the division series.

If general manager Mike Rizzo is willing to empty a farm system built up over the years through strong drafting (Giolito; Fedde) and shrewd international spending (Robles), the Nationals could add Sale to a rotation already headed by Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, dramatically improving a team that won 95 games without the lanky left-hander. All three of those pitchers are under contract through at least 2019, too, ensuring the Nationals would have the best rotation in baseball for the remainder of Bryce Harper's arbitration seasons (i.e. the rest of his time in Washington).

For the White Sox, meanwhile, this package is pretty much ideal, infusing considerable upside into a farm system lacking in impact talent, especially now that Tim Anderson is the starting shortstop in Chicago. Giolito, the consensus top pitching prospect in baseball, dominated the Triple-A International League last year at the age of 21, crafting a 2.17 ERA while showing off three-plus pitches and command that belied his age. Fedde, a 23-year-old UNLV product, also made an impression in the high minors in 2016, his second season as a professional, striking out 28 while allowing just one homer in 29 1/3 innings after being promoted to Double-A in August. Robles, a 19-year-old out of the Dominican Republic, isn't as close to the big leagues as those guys, having never played above High-A, but wields five legitimate tools and was ranked in July as Baseball America's 13th-best prospect.

Boston Red Sox

Boasting one of the league's more robust farm systems - even after last season's deals for Craig Kimbrel and Drew Pomeranz - the Red Sox are one of the few teams with prospect capital and motivation to acquire Sale, given their top-heavy rotation and designs of winning a second straight division title in 2017.

Though the White Sox probably won't be able to pry Cuban phenom Yoan Moncada from Boston, netting six years of control over Andrew Benintedi - the 22-year-old who posted an .835 OPS (117 OPS+) over his first 34 MLB games - would be a major coup; Devers, a 19-year-old third baseman who hit .282 with 11 homers in High-A last year, would immediately become the top prospect in Chicago's system, too, while Kopech, a 20-year-old right-hander who routinely hits 100 miles per hour, would provide the White Sox with another high-ceiling arm to dream on, notwithstanding his injury history, recent drug suspension, and that he's yet to pitch in Double-A.

That's a lot for Dave Dombrowski to give up, to be sure, but he'd still hang onto Moncada and 2016 first-round pick Jason Groome while capitalizing on a competitive window that, even with all the young talent on Boston's 25-man roster, is still being propped up by the likes of Dustin Pedroia (33), Hanley Ramirez (33 next month), and David Price (31).

Texas Rangers

Last July, the Rangers shipped a boatload of prospects to Philadelphia for Cole Hamels to ensure safe passage into the postseason. A year later, they unloaded even more millennial talent for Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran, before the Toronto Blue Jays ousted them from the ALDS for a second straight year. It's no secret they're committed to winning now.

The thing is though, the rotation needs serious help if Texas hopes to win a third straight division title in 2017. Outside of Hamels and the recently revived Yu Darvish, the Rangers' rotation was a Texas-sized tire fire last summer, as their other nine starters combined for a 4.87 ERA over 113 outings. Having Sale take 30 or more starts away from some replacement-level scrub could add five or six wins to a team that, with the Astros trending upward, will need every marginal victory next season.

This proposal carries much more risk for the White Sox than the previous two, as both centerpieces have encountered recent roadblocks in their development, while the third piece hasn't played above High-A. But, it might also have the most upside. Despite his well-documented contact issues, Gallo's unparalleled power - he has 159 homers in 538 professional games - still made him BA's 11th-best prospect in July. Profar, once the game's unequivocal top prospect, struggled upon rejoining the Rangers in 2016 after missing two full seasons, but the 23-year-old hit in Triple-A after coming off the DL and is a more appealing option to serve as Anderson's double-play partner for the next three years than any internal candidate. Morgan, who turns 21 on Wednesday, probably won't make his MLB debut for at least another year, but he's a (newly converted) catcher with three solid-average tools, who hit .300/.367/.394 against older competition in the California League this year.