The White Sox, who are reportedly seeking five top prospects for Sale, announced that the five-time All-Star was scratched after being involved in a clubhouse incident before his scheduled start against the Tigers.
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“The White Sox will have no additional comment until the investigation is completed”, general manager Rick Hahn said in a statement.
Sources say Sale did not want to wear the throwback jerseys because they were uncomfortable, so he shredded his so nobody could wear them. “Things escalated when they wouldn’t relent”, Ken Rosenthal added.
Multiple reports Saturday, though, confirmed that the White Sox were still in talks to trade Sale before the August 1 deadline.
In fact, depending on exactly what happened regarding the “clubhouse incident”, the chances of Sale being dealt could improve.
According to multiple reports, the incident was a disagreement, not between Sale and one of his teammates, but rather between the star pitcher and a member of team management.
The first thought would be that Sale was told he was likely going to be traded and the left-hander wasn’t happy about that. LaRoche left the White Sox “after Williams informed him that he must limit” his son’s access to the clubhouse, per Nightengale.
ESPN Stats & Info said Matt Albers would start in the southpaw’s place. Now in the midst of his second season in the “Windy City”, Albers has made 42 relief appearances for the White Sox in 2016 while posting an underwhelming 5.03 ERA.
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The curiosity around Sale being pulled was mostly due to the fact that Sale had been linked to several trade rumors and could find himself in a new uniforms after the August 1 deadline. Justin Morneau homered for the White Sox, who have dropped eight of nine. TR Sullivan of MLB.com recently reported the Texas Rangers were putting forth a “serious effort” to land the dominant pitcher. He is also only 27 years old, in the middle of his prime and under team control through the 2019 campaign, per Spotrac.
