Braves, Nationals continue pursuit of Chris Sale

The Braves and Nationals remain strongly in the mix to acquire lefty Chris Sale from the White Sox, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com. Three other teams rumored to be interested in Sale -- the Red Sox, Astros and Rangers -- are out on him at his current asking price while the Dodgers appear to be an unlikely destination after closing in on a deal with Rich Hill.

Sale is the top available name on the trade market this winter, and the White Sox are asking an astronomical price for him. As FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports, Chicago will look to create a bidding war for Sale at this week’s Winter Meetings, hoping that an interested club will meet its high price.

Atlanta and Washington appear to be two of the most serious suitors at this point, and will likely be aggressive throughout the Meetings. The Braves have already added three starters (Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia) this winter, but are known to still be looking for an ace and have the prospects to get a deal done. The Nationals are simultaneously pursuing Sale and Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen, though it appears the sides are making less progress on the McCutchen swap at this point.

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn will take this week’s Meetings to assess the Sale situation, and will likely get a king’s ransom for the lefty considering the high amount of interest. While no clear favorite currently exists, the weak free-agent rotation market and amount of teams involved for Sale bode well for the ChiSox.