David Ortiz teases Sox Nation after Red Sox acquire Chris Sale

Sale bolstered a Red Sox rotation that also features recent AL Cy Young victor Rick Porcello, former award victor David Price and All-Star knuckleballer Steven Wright. The 21-year-old Moncada is about as close to can’t-miss as a player can be after posting a.294/.407/.511 slash line with 45 stolen last season between High-A and Double-A and getting his first taste of Major League Baseball action.

It wasn’t all good for Sale in 2016, though.

The Boston Red Sox announced Tuesday that they have traded top prospect Yoan Moncada to the Chicago White Sox for ace starting pitcher Chris Sale.

The Boston Red Sox dramatically retooled to build anew after winning the World Series in 2013, but on Tuesday they revised the blueprint again to go all-in for another title chase.

Sale was a top trade target across the majors this offseason, and the Washington Nationals seemed to be the favorites to land him this week.

“This path doesn’t fit with how we have acted over the last several years”, Hahn said.

The White Sox can have the future and all of their new shiny prospects.

Sale stirred up national headlines twice last season and both times included a very public dispute with White Sox management.

Okay. So. First of all, did he really need to go across sports to find an apt comparison for a team that’s seemingly stacked with talent?

“Of course with those types of moves (like Sale) you obviously react in some way, just as any fan does, as any player does”, Atkins said. “We dodged a bullet”.

The Red Sox also traded for Milwaukee Brewers reliever Tyler Thornburg.

“We feel that 23 players, or more, got us to the playoffs, not 2-3-4 guys”, the second-year GM commented about his two free-agent sluggers and reaching the playoffs for a third time.

Few knew then exactly how hard the man fittingly wearing bright red socks was trying. Sale’s contract, with options, runs through 2019.

“There was a great level of excitement since we got here about the caliber of players that we were likely to receive back”, Hahn said.

“This (gives) us a significant chance to win”. He joined ESPN Chicago in July 2010 and covered the Chicago White Sox for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN Radio 1000 through the 2015 season.

“He pitches with an edge”. “I think we have a game plan that we’re going to continue to stay diligent and determined with and I think it will serve us well over time”. He lost $250,000 of his $9.15 million salary and also was fined about $12,700 – the cost of the tattered jerseys.

September 25, 2014: A day after his final start of the season, Sale goes home before a game against the Tigers after a heated exchange with manager Robin Ventura, who acknowledges the two had a “loud” disagreement but declines to elaborate.

Indeed, the White Sox went through with it.

This is probably some good ol’ fashioned trolling by Big Papi, but because Ortiz retired after one of the best seasons of his career, the cries for him to return for just one more season were loud.

The 30-year-old had a down year in 2016, hitting.256/.336/.430 with 24 homers and 79 RBI and was barely league average, with a 103 OPS+.

The 29-year-old aspiring outfielder hit.194 in the Arizona Fall League, striking out 20 times in 70 plate appearances.

Basabe, a 20-year-old outfielder, was Boston’s eighth-ranked prospect, while Diaz, a 22-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic, was 8-6 with a 3.00 ERA with 17 saves over two seasons in the Red Sox system.