NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- A theory in some corners of the industry is that the White Sox used a smart and increasingly common strategy of employing media-driven leverage in their Chris Sale trade talks this week. At the winter meetings, hundreds of writers (like me) fire off tweets like punches in a crazy, chaotic bar fight, 140-character nerd jabs and haymakers, and within that atmosphere, word leaked out Monday night that the Washington Nationals were really close to finishing a deal for the All-Star left-hander.

With the potential of a Sale swap to Washington hanging like an anvil, the White Sox were able to proceed in their conversations with the Red Sox with a little more gravity. In so many words, the White Sox informed Boston that unless the final requested pieces were in the trade, Chicago was prepared to make a deal with Washington, and by late morning Tuesday, White Sox executives were able to choose from two strong offers.

But some evaluators thought Boston’s offer was staggering, a value-for-value overpay by a team willing and able to do so. “No way anyone was close to that,” one rival executive noted. Keith Law writes that Chicago got great return.

Now the White Sox embark on a plan of necessary rebuilding, maybe a year too late, but the right action, for sure, with other moves to make. The White Sox informed other organizations last month that they are willing to trade any player with less than four years of team control, a list that includes first baseman Jose Abreu, third baseman Todd Frazier, closer David Robertson and outfielder Melky Cabrera, but does not include outfielder Adam Eaton. Moving Robertson now to a team that loses out in the Kenley Jansen/Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes would make sense, to save money.

But some rival evaluators wonder if the best play for the White Sox is to wait until next season to dangle Abreu and Frazier, in particular. Right now, the free-agent and trade market is saturated with sluggers -- corner infielders, corner outfielders, DHs -- and it’s possible that this could affect the return for Abreu and Frazier. If the White Sox open the season with those two, with nobody pretending the team is trying to compete for a playoff spot, GM Rick Hahn can put himself into a more advantageous trade position of being an early seller, making it clear to other teams that Frazier, Abreu and others could be moved at the right price in April, May or June, when almost no clubs are willing to trade. “It would be a more exclusive opportunity to sell then,” one official said.

• The White Sox are not done dealing, writes Daryl Van Schouwen.

• The White Sox fared very well in their return for Sale, writes Eric Longhagen. The White Sox began their teardown in the best possible way.

• Boston’s trade for Sale has David Ortiz thinking about a comeback, which wouldn’t be a shocker, given how well Ortiz hit last year, when he had more extra-base hits (87) than strikeouts (86). Sure, the Red Sox signed Mitch Moreland to play first base, to give them the flexibility to shift Hanley Ramirez to DH on a lot of days. But it’s not as if Moreland’s deal would be an impediment if Ortiz suddenly changed his mind and announced a comeback one day: Boston’s investment in Moreland is only $5.5 million, and the Red Sox could seek Moreland’s permission to trade him. (By rule, teams cannot move a newly signed free agent until June 15.)

For now, it’s a tease, but if Ortiz wakes up one morning and decides he wants to come back, who in the Red Sox organization would ever say no to Big Papi?

You could understand the attraction. With Ortiz in the lineup last season, the Red Sox led the AL in runs scored by 101 over Cleveland, and now they have a rotation that includes the reigning Cy Young Award winner in Rick Porcello, former Cy Young Award winner David Price, perennial Cy candidate Sale, with the No. 4 and No. 5 spots to be sorted out among All-Star knuckleballer Steven Wright, promising Eduardo Rodriguez, veteran Drew Pomeranz and Clay Buchholz. Moving Buchholz in this market of thin starting pitching -- perhaps to a team such as the Braves -- would seem to make a lot of sense, as would at least a temporary shift of Pomeranz to the pen.

The addition of Tyler Thornburg Tuesday morning was obscured in the shadow of the enormous Sale deal: Thornburg held lefties to a .130 batting average last season and seemingly gives Boston the sturdy setup man that John Farrell needs.

On paper, it’s a great team, and the clear AL favorite. But the upgrades have come at an extremely high cost.

Over the past 13 months, the Red Sox have given up four prospects who probably would be ranked near the top of the board for most organizations -- outfielder Manuel Margot in the swap for Craig Kimbrel, Anderson Espinoza for Pomeranz, and Michael Kopech and Yoan Moncada in the Sale deal. It’s hard to come up with a comparable example of an organization trading so many high-end prospects in such a short time, decisions that reflect Boston’s frantic push to win the World Series.

• Dave Dombrowski proved again that he’s fearless, writes Jayson Stark. Dombrowski is all-in for 2017, writes Nick Cafardo.

• Christmas came early for the Red Sox, writes Dan Shaughnessy.

• Dombrowski talked about how the Sale trade went down.

• The Sale trade is virtually unprecedented in Red Sox history, writes Rob Bradford.

• Yankees general manager Brian Cashman learned long ago the same lesson absorbed by a lot of his peers: The baseball gods prefer that you remain humble, and raise expectations (and pressure) for opposing teams, and lower expectations for your own team. The Red Sox got their Kevin Durant like the Golden State Warriors did, Cashman said.

• The Nationals may have lost out on Sale because they wouldn’t give up Trea Turner, writes Chelsea Janes.

• Washington could turn its attention to Andrew McCutchen.

• The Nationals may have dodged a bullet with Sale, writes Thomas Boswell, or a big opportunity.

• Monday’s story by Bob Nightengale about the diminished chances of signing Bryce Harper beyond his free agency in the fall of 2018 has fueled a notion that the Nationals are in a two-year window in which they faced increased pressure to win, before Harper hits the market. Barry Svrluga wrote about this the other day.

• The Nationals have a lot to their organization beyond Harper, however, with good pitching, Turner and a proven ability to identify and develop prospects. Harper is an important part of their potential, for sure, but they won the NL East in a walkaway last season and then pushed the Dodgers in the Division Series in a year in which Harper wasn’t very good. There is ample reason to believe the window for the Nationals could continue beyond 2018.

• Rizzo told reporters that the Nationals went as far as they were going to go for Sale.