New Sox for Sale! Top prospects to Chicago

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Red Sox struck for a blockbuster trade that makes an already solid team a potentially fearsome one, acquiring lefty ace Chris Sale from the White Sox on Tuesday for a four-prospect package that includes infielder Yoan Moncada.

Boston also sent highly touted pitching prospect Michael Kopech, outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe and right-hander Victor Diaz to Chicago. Moncada is the top-ranked prospect in the game, according to MLBPipeline.com. The deal marks the first time in at least 25 years that baseball’s No. 1 prospect has been traded, based on the rankings done by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.

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“We’ve talked about Chris Sale throughout the last couple years,” said Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “We didn’t have any ongoing conversations. I got a call on Friday at about 6 from Rick [Hahn] saying they were thinking of moving him, and with the new CBA, they were committed to making some moves in the organization. He asked me [if we] would we be interested. I said, ‘Of course, anybody in baseball would have interest in Chris Sale.’

“I tip my cap to Rick. He’s a professional and handled the situation well, and was very direct. He did his homework. We’re absolutely thrilled to have Chris Sale on board with us. We feel it gives us a chance to win now. Our rotation is very strong, we solidified our bullpen earlier in the day. … We gave up two of the better prospects in baseball, but we thought this gives us a significant chance to win.”

Championship teams are usually built around pitching, and the Red Sox now have a stacked rotation that includes a pair of five-time All-Stars in Sale and David Price and also the American League’s Cy Young Award winner from 2016 in Rick Porcello.

Manager John Farrell will have quite the task in determining which of those three hurlers should get the ball on Opening Day, which is set for April 3 at Fenway Park against the Pirates.

“We found ourselves in a great situation to be able to acquire an elite starter,” said Farrell. “I think the one thing this is a reminder of is how aggressive our ownership is to allow us to win every time we take the field.”

The deal presented a classic case of one team with immediate championship aspirations and another ready to rebuild around young players. And it had the industry buzzing.

“That’s a big one. That’s a blockbuster,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “It was a ‘Wow.’ Obviously, they gave up a lot and they got a lot. Boston’s like the Golden State Warriors now in baseball; they’ve got their [Kevin] Durant, their [Draymond] Green, [Klay] Thompson and [Stephen] Curry. It’s a big one.”

As recently as Monday, Dombrowski said he didn’t feel a driving force to add a starting pitcher.

“Pretty much Sale or nothing,” Dombrowski said. “We didn’t have any other conversations taking place because we like our rotation as it is. I really didn’t think it was a big need for us.”

Sale’s club-friendly contract …

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