Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale will remain on the trade market this winter as one of the top pitchers on the trade market.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports that the White Sox’s asking price in a trade for Sale remains high, and it may be even higher than it was in the summer before the MLB’s annual trading deadline:

Heyman also goes on to say that the hope around the league is that the trade talks pick up in December at the Winter Meetings, and that there is a longer list of interested teams than there were in July and August for the southpaw pitcher.

This year’s free agent class doesn’t have the strongest crop of starting pitchers available like last winter when David Price or Zack Greinke, so that can increase the likelihood that the biggest move involving a pitcher happens via trade.

Chicago will want a significant haul of prospects in any Sale trade scenario, and if a team is willing to move a highly-regarded prospect with other prospects attached to it in a deal, they may land themselves Sale.

In 2016, Sale went 17-10 with a 3.34 earned run average and 233 strikeouts over 226.2 innings of work. Those numbers placed him 5th in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award behind only Zach Britton, Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander, and Rick Porcello.

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