Baseball-White Sox deal Sale to Red Sox for top prospects-reports

Dec 6 (The Sports Xchange) - Chicago White Sox ace left-handed starter Chris Sale is headed to the American League East champion Boston Red Sox in a Winter Meetings blockbuster deal. Boston acquired Sale on Tuesday for top infield prospect Yoan Moncada, highly-rated young pitcher Michael Kopech and prospects Luis Basabe and Victor Diaz, according to a wide range of reports out of Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings in Maryland. Chicago finished 78-84 in fourth place in the five-team AL Central last season. Sale, a five-time All-Star and the American League strikeouts leader in 2015, joins forces with reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and former Cy Young recipient David Price in the Boston rotation. The 27-year-old southpaw had been rumored to be on the trade market, with the Washington Nationals also reportedly close to making a deal with the rebuilding White Sox. Sale is 74-50 with a 3.00 ERA and 1,244 strikeouts in 228 career major league games (148 starts), all with the White Sox. In 2016, Sale posted a 17-10 record and a 3.34 ERA with 233 punchouts over 32 starts. Moncada, a 21-year-old Cuban infielder widely viewed as the top prospect in baseball, struggled in a brief look after making his major league debut in 2016, batting .211 (4-for-19) with one RBI in eight games with the Red Sox. Kopech, a 20-year-old right-hander, is the fourth-rated prospect in Boston's system according to Baseball America. Basabe, a 20-year-old outfielder, is ranked eighth. Diaz, 22, is also a right-handed pitcher. (Editing by Larry Fine) ))