Not sure how I only found this now but in running sql-sync this line https://github.com/drush-ops/drush/blob/master/commands/sql/sync.sql.inc#L344 has the following command:
stat --format="%Y"
This isn't supported on OS X 1.5.8 or 1.9 that I tested on. It produces this error...
$ stat --format
stat: illegal option -- -
The BSD derived stat command on these systems would use:
stat -f "%m"
It doesn't seem that we should have to test for what system things are on but should find a universally workable method.