Red Sox acquire ace leftie Chris Sale from White Sox
oxon hill, md.» No surprise that Chris Sale got traded — it was time to go. The real shocker? That the Red Sox swooped in to snag the left-hander.
The reloading Red Sox pulled off the biggest deal yet at the winter meetings, acquiring the dominant ace from the White Sox on Tuesday for a package of four prospects.
“The ability to get a Chris Sale doesn’t come along very often,” Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said.
Sale, 27, joins an already talented rotation with the AL East champions, now pitching alongside 2016 AL Young Award winner Rick Porcello, former winner David Price and knuckleballer Steven Wright. He leaves behind a shredded reputation in Chicago, suspended by the team last summer after he flew into a rage and cut up retro uniforms that club was supposed to wear.
Sale has been an All-Star in each of the last five seasons, finishing high in Cy Young Award voting every time, but has never played in the postseason. To get him, Boston traded four minor leaguers: high-priced third baseman Yoan Moncada, considered by many the top young talent in baseball, along with pitchers Michael Kopech and Victor Diaz, and outfielder Luis Basabe.
Boston also landed the setup man they wanted, acquiring right-hander Tyler Thornburg from the Brewers in a trade that included infielder Travis Shaw.
Milwaukee also got minor-league infielder Mauricio Dubon, minor-league right-hander Josh Pennington and a player to be named or $100.
Yanks will retire No. 2
B new york» Derek Jeter’s No. 2 is being retired, the last of the Yankees’ single digits.
The Yankees said the number will be retired May 14 before a Mother’s Day game, and a plaque in his honor will be unveiled in Monument Park during the ceremony.
Jeter’s number is the 21st retired by the team. He won five World Series titles and was a 14-time All-Star during a 20-season career that ended in 2014, and he is sixth in career hits with 3,465.
Jeter set Yankees records for hits, games (2,747), atbats (11,195), doubles (544) and stolen bases (358).
Smith sets a first
B oxon hill, md.» Claire Smith is the first woman to win the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing and will be honored during the Hall of Fame’s induction weekend in July in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The 62-year-old Smith covered the New York Yankees for the Hartford Courant for five years starting in 1983 and was a columnist for The New York Times from 1991-98 and The Philadelphia Inquirer from 19982007.