Chris Sale ‘as excited as anybody’ for chance to contend with Red Sox

Chris Sale is moving from a White Sox team that has compiled four straight losing seasons to a Red Sox team that instantly upgraded its status an already-serious 2017 contender with his presence in the rotation.

He is moving from a ballpark in Chicago that ranked 26th in attendance in 2016 to historic Fenway Park, where he expects to see sellout crowds. He joins a rotation that includes current American League Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and former winner David Price.

He and his wife like the city of Boston. And on top of all that, with his second child due in a couple of weeks, he will get to spend his spring in a Florida training facility not too far from his home.

So it is natural that the longtime face of the White Sox is “as excited as anybody” about his destination in Tuesday’s trade. But he also called it “tough” Wednesday to leave the organization where he blossomed from the No. 13 overall draft pick in 2010 to one of the best pitchers in the AL.

He said that reality hit home upon receiving texts from White Sox teammates, including reliever Nate Jones.

“It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to in Chicago,” Sale said on a conference call with reporters, “but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a lot of great moments.

“You build a relationship with these guys and they are like family. You are around these guys probably even more during the year than you are around your family. It’s tough. But knowing what lies ahead makes it a little bit easier for that transition.”

What lies ahead is a legitimate chance to do something Sale always has said is his foremost goal — making a run at the postseason.

Sale comes from a solid White Sox rotation that included Jose Quintana and Carlos Rodon, but he said a rotation that includes Porcello and Price should be able to foster a healthy competition. Price already reached out to him to welcome him to Boston.

“Regardless of who’s pitching on what night, the next night we have as good if not a better chance, all the way down the line,” Sale said. “It takes some pressure off of everybody. Just pitch because you don’t feel like you have this huge weight on your shoulders to win this game, for sure, 100 percent.”

Sale sometimes carried the weight of a losing team on his shoulders over the last few years.

The White Sox’s inability to build a contender around him and Quintana finally pushed them to begin a huge rebuilding project with Tuesday’s trade. Sale, the subject of trade rumors nearly every year, said his agent warned him over the last couple of weeks that the move might be coming.

Sale said he had a “very good conversation” with general manager Rick Hahn after the deal was done, and he said he was thankful for the opportunities the White Sox gave him. He alluded to the Sox’s confidence in his ability to be a starter over a reliever and in his physical endurance amid questions about how his delivery might cause injuries.

“They drafted me in the first round when people had questions,” Sale said. “They brought me up to the big leagues really fast and people probably had questions. They threw me in the rotation and people clearly had questions.

“They had my back a lot, and they gave me opportunities that not a lot of other people would have given me. I’m very thankful for that.”