NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- It's one thing, Chris Sale said, to finally get traded after more than two years of rampant speculation. It's another to join a team that expects to reach the playoffs and the World Series.
But to pitch in a starting rotation that includes two Cy Young Award winners?
"That," Sale said Wednesday, "is kind of the cherry on top."
One day after acquiring Sale in a haymaker of a trade at baseball's winter meetings, the Boston Red Sox unveiled their new pitching bauble on a conference call Wednesday.