White Sox GM: Sale's front-office rifts are 'nonfactor' in trade talks
Just because Chris Sale cut up some jerseys, that won't be the reason the Chicago White Sox cut him loose.
Despite past rifts the ace has had with front office, most notably netting a five-game suspension for insubordination and destroying team equipment, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said that won't play a role in trade considerations.
"It's a nonfactor,'' Hahn said Tuesday, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. "It's zero factor from our standpoint in terms of his fit with us or our belief that he can help be the anchor of a championship-caliber rotation."
Sale is without a doubt the hottest pitching commodity on the trading block due to his electric arm, impressive track record, and team-friendly contract.
The 27-year-old is on the tail end of a five-year, $32.5-million deal that runs through 2017, with a club option for 2018-19.
Ever since cracking the bigs full time in 2011, he's owned a 3.02 ERA over 1,086 2/3 innings of work, notching 1,212 strikeouts, and has been named to five straight All-Star games.
Whether or not the White Sox trade him or keep him, Hahn doesn't consider Sale a clubhouse issue. He also thinks other clubs should overlook the pitcher's past run-ins.
"Whether it influences some other club's view of him, I don't know. I don't think it should," Hahn said. "I think a lot of what we've seen from Chris is part of what makes him great. It's that competitiveness, that fight, that sometimes spills over a little bit into areas outside the white lines.
"It's part of what makes him so good during the game."