Boston Red Sox Bank On Chris Sale To Bolster Injured Starting Rotation

With three starters on their injured list, the Boston Red Sox have announced that erstwhile ace Chris Sale will probably return to the varsity early next week.

“He’ll pitch Tuesday,” manager Alex Cora told Ian Browne of MLB.com. “Somewhere, he’ll pitch Tuesday, but there’s a good chance he’ll pitch with us.”

The two-time American League strikeout king would bring to Boston both a powerful left arm and a string of controversies. He leads active pitchers with a 5.334 ratio of strikeouts to walks and has been an All-Star seven times. In fact, he shares the record of three consecutive All-Star Game starts with Lefty Gomez and Robin Roberts.

Acquired from the Chicago White Sox in a December 2016 swap for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, and two minor-leaguers, Sale fanned a career-peak 308 batters in 2017, when he also led the league in innings pitched (214.1). One season later, he was a key member of the Red Sox team that won a world championship.

But he then had Tommy John elbow surgery and missed the entire 2020 season.

The 6’6″ southpaw threw 72 pitches in his last rehab start, at Triple-A Worcester, but also walked five batters and vented his frustration on a clubhouse television, not to mention other objects that got in his way.

His explosive reaction reminded reporters of his outburst on July 23, 2016 before a game he was scheduled to pitch for the White Sox against the Tigers. He was scratched and suspended five days by his own team after cutting up throwback jerseys he and his teammates were asked to wear that day.

“He cut up the jerseys so no one could wear them,” wrote Tommy Stokke of FanRagSports at the time.

Now that he’s wearing Sox of a different color, Boston is betting that the veteran starter has some life left in his left arm.

Sale, 33, has a lifetime record of 114-74 accompanied by a strong 3.03 earned run average and more strikeouts than innings pitched. He contributed 42 2/3 innings late in 2021 – his first action since 2019 – but wasn’t quite as effective as he had been previously.

Sale is signed to a five-year, $145 million contract that would keep him in Boston until 2025. His adjusted salary with the Bosox this season is $20 million.

Boston began play Friday with a 45-38 mark, 15 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East and one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays, but had been expected to make a stronger challenge.

Considering the team’s pitching woes, it is virtually certain to be an active buyer before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.

The club also hopes to keep potential free agents J.D. Martinez, Kiké Hernández, Eovaldi, Hill, Wacha, and perhaps Xander Bogaerts, who can opt out of his contract after this season. Rafael Devers, arguably the team’s top player, is also nearing potential free agency.

According to Spotrac, the Red Sox rank sixth in the majors with a 2022 payroll of $202,364,969.