White Sox and and Cubs making deals

It was an absolute steal. Now the Sox have struck again, adding yet another premier piece to their puzzle, acquiring Chris Sale from the Chicago White Sox Tuesday morning. It also made it easier for them to eat the $31.5 million signing bonus they are paying the 21-year-old Moncada – the largest ever for an amateur player; the amount was doubled as a penalty for exceeding their global signing cap. 1 prospect and arguably the top prospect in all of baseball.

Red Sox Nation might need to get treated for collective whiplash from all the head spinning that resulted from these deals.

They decided three weeks ago they had no choice but to conduct their first rebuilding project in a quarter-century, but no one really believed them.

“He pitches with an edge, ” Red Sox manager John Farrell observed. “I don’t know how you couldn’t be”. The future is still here. But a rotation that also includes fellow All-Star Jose Quintana has not been able to lift the Sox out of a streak of eight straight years without the postseason, and that has the Sox embarking on a change of course.

In a recent 12-team mock draft, Sale went as the first pick in the third round at the turn as the 25th player selected overall.

Chris Sale went to the Red Sox for mega prospect Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, and other prospects.

Though the Red Sox also parted with coveted prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, that series of moves changed the landscape quickly, moving Boston from a 9/1 favorite on November 3 to a 11/2 on Wednesday. I would’ve been confident in telling you that Bradley Jr. had to be involved.

Ideally, for Robertson and Abreu, a deal involving Bruce, Duda, Nido, and possibly Gavin Cecchini or Justin Dunn should be more than enough.

Yet, here we are. The Red Sox shot from contenders to favorites to win the World Series with one stroke of a pen. And nobody from next year’s starting lineup had to get shipped out of town for it to happen.

And one Cashman refuses to try to match as he sticks with the plan to contend and rebuild with a bevy of prospects other clubs drool over.

“That shows you his personality, that he can still provide light in a situation like that, where he’s being obviously crushed on social media”, said Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman, Price’s friend and former teammate. David, one of Boston’s most beloved sluggers, hung up his cleats at the end of the 2015-16 Major League Baseball season. At just 27, he’s a five-time MLB All-Star and he led the American League in strikeouts in 2015.

Boston’s pitching staff certainly got better right away in this deal.

Not to mention, Rick Porcello earned the most wins in baseball on his way to the Cy Young Award. I don’t care that David Price is making $30 million a season.

In addition to the questionable run support in Boston, Sale already is trending higher in home runs allowed per nine innings, which isn’t ideal. In 2016, Sale posted a 17-10 record and a 3.34 ERA with 233 punchouts over 32 starts.

“It’s wonderful the number of people who reached out to me, ” laughed Dombrowski. Those things are brutal. “You’re glad when you finally get the ball”, Sale said.

“Well, I mean, I think you do your checking when you read that and see what you feel causes some things”, Dombrowski said during his meeting with the local media at the MLB Winter Meetings Wednesday night. Thornburg now solidifies the Red Sox bullpen by penciling in to hold down the eighth inning ahead of closer Craig Kimbrel.