Chicago White Sox: Three trades that define the rebuild

Trade 1

The Chicago White Sox got off to a nice start with the rebuild on December 6th, 2016. During the MLB’s Winter Meetings, the White Sox sent Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz.  Chris Sale was a Hall of Fame talent in his prime when Boston acquired him so you know that they were going to pay a steep price to get him.

Chris Sale went on to win the World Series as the ace of the Boston staff in 2018.  For that reason, you could never say that the Red Sox lost the trade. However, the White Sox can easily make it an even trade. Yoan Moncada is already a superstar third baseman and Michael Kopech is looking to become a front of the rotation starter. Adding two guys like that to the organization is significant when you are rebuilding it from scratch as the White Sox were.

This trade will always feel extra significant because it was the first sign of change. It had to be hard to trade Sale because he is probably the most talented player to play for this organization in a decade or longer. There were other pitchers that had more team success but Sale’s stuff was second to none. Trading him made it clear that Rick Hahn meant business.