Cashman doesn't regret passing on Sale

In the winter of 2016, Chris Sale - then a member of the Chicago White Sox -was the biggest trade chip on the market. The Boston Red Sox wound up acquiring the ace left-hander, and relied on him to record the final three outs of their 2018 World Series victory.

But one of the teams the Red Sox beat en route to their championship win has no regrets about passing on Sale.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was asked Tuesday about how close his team came to acquiring Sale before deciding it wasn't the best time to "back the truck up" and trade away top-tier prospects.

"Thank God I didn't do that, actually," Cashman said during his media availability at the GM meetings in Carlsbad, Calif., according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "You'd be missing some serious components of our major-league club right now that are under control. We wouldn't have gotten anywhere if I did anything like that with the White Sox back then."

Cashman didn't get into specifics regarding a potential deal, but he said the White Sox insisted the package coming back include Luis Severino and a roster player, in addition to at least two other prospects.

"In this case, you'd be losing starting position players that you have that are under control, as well as a Cy Young Award candidate in his own right," Cashman said.

He added, "We made the right play on it, and (the Red Sox) made obviously the right choice."

The Red Sox wound up sending then-No. 1 prospect Yoan Moncada, top pitching prospect Michael Kopech, outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe, and pitcher Victor Diaz to Chicago. Moncada posted the third-highest strikeout rate of anyone in baseball last year and Kopech is slated to miss the entire 2019 season after requiring Tommy John surgery.