Chris Sale aiming to return

Smiling Joe Hesketh

Throw Momma From the Train
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Since giving him that $168 million extension, the Sox have gotten 11-12, 4.12 ERA over only 190 IP over 3 seasons, one of which he missed entirely.

Just a terrible deal for a guy who hasn't been healthy and has been mostly ineffective when he's not injured.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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Jan 13, 2021
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This is a potentially devestating blow. A Sale injury presumably moves Houck or Whitlock to the rotation, which weakens an already suspect looking bullpen.

Eovaldi-Pivetta-Hill-Wacha-Houck. Meh.

Available FA include Pineda, Greinke, and Danny Duffy. Kenley Jansen too.Yikes.
 

The Napkin

wise ass al kaprielian
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right here
Dan Roche
@RochieWBZ

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Replying to
@RochieWBZ
#RedSox CBO Chaim Bloom says it will be weeks not days before Sale will be throwing again. Says he’s doing much better now than he was a week ago though. Says Sale did it throwing a pitch..felt it acutely when Sox players were throwing live BP informally before lockout ended
@wbz
 

RIrooter09

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Jul 31, 2008
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Since giving him that $168 million extension, the Sox have gotten 11-12, 4.12 ERA over only 190 IP over 3 seasons, one of which he missed entirely.

Just a terrible deal for a guy who hasn't been healthy and has been mostly ineffective when he's not injured.
And he was already clearly dealing with an injury when they signed him to the extension. What a disaster.
 

pokey_reese

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Woof. Given how loaded the AL East is going to be, I wonder if this has any impact on how the FO sees their window, and their appetite to spend big on FAs. If it is weeks before he is throwing at all again, we are talking no April, and potentially no May, even without setbacks, before Sale is starting? That's quite a blow.
 

mikeford

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Aug 6, 2006
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This is a potentially devestating blow. A Sale injury presumably moves Houck or Whitlock to the rotation, which weakens an already suspect looking bullpen.

Eovaldi-Pivetta-Hill-Wacha-Houck. Meh.

Available FA include Pineda, Greinke, and Danny Duffy. Kenley Jansen too.Yikes.
Greinke could probably give you the ~80 innings you'd need to get Sale back in the rotation. Might even be slightly above replacement value.

God only knows what it might cost you for that in terms of a contract.
 

moondog80

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Glass half full take; Sale can be great but can't make it through a full season. The smart thing would be to just have his first start on Memorial Day, but teams aren't yet willing to do things like that. This allows for that to happen.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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If the team isn’t competitive, they are well set up to make a killing at the deadline, with Eovaldi, Hernandez, Bogaerts, JD, Wacha, Hill, Bradley, Vazquez, etc. all on the last year of their deals. Of course the hope is that they are good but in the event that they are not, they have a potential opportunity to capitalize on it.
 

LogansDad

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Glass half full take; Sale can be great but can't make it through a full season. The smart thing would be to just have his first start on Memorial Day, but teams aren't yet willing to do things like that. This allows for that to happen.
Glass half empty take: Sale hasn't been "great" since well before he signed that contract extension. I have my doubts he will be great once he comes back from this.
 

moondog80

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Glass half empty take: Sale hasn't been "great" since well before he signed that contract extension. I have my doubts he will be great once he comes back from this.
Sale had an ERA+ of 150 last year with a K/BB of 4.3. I hated the deal too, but what's done is done. LeBron-esque load management might be the best way to maximize the next three years.
 

joe dokes

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Glass half full take; Sale can be great but can't make it through a full season. The smart thing would be to just have his first start on Memorial Day, but teams aren't yet willing to do things like that. This allows for that to happen.
Glass half empty take: Sale hasn't been "great" since well before he signed that contract extension. I have my doubts he will be great once he comes back from this.
Glass is overrated take. They did fine without him last year.
 

sean1562

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If the team isn’t competitive, they are well set up to make a killing at the deadline, with Eovaldi, Hernandez, Bogaerts, JD, Wacha, Hill, Bradley, Vazquez, etc. all on the last year of their deals. Of course the hope is that they are good but in the event that they are not, they have a potential opportunity to capitalize on it.
I had not thought of this at all but you are right. With the moves our competitors have made and the lack of big signings on our end, maybe the FO sees this as yet another bridge year before we reset our window. We really need young good pitching for future seasons.
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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Dec 7, 2006
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I hate being like this, but I’m just kind of done with him.

View: https://twitter.com/chriscotillo/status/1504097813461970954?s=21
I'm with you at the moment. Thanks for striking out Machado (and lots of other guys) but I don't have any patience for this kind of selfishness.

Edit: I at least understood some players' reticence to get the vaccine during the season. Each dose I have taken has laid me up for at least a day so I get that some players feared its affect on their performance. But they had all off season. Absent a legitimate medical excuse it's just selfish.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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As it is now, the Sox need to replace ~533 innings at a 4.78 era from the players they’ve lost, which includes 75 starts. A big part of that was expected to come from Sale. Not sure how this is going to work out given the current personnel.
 

bohous

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Jul 21, 2005
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This is a potentially devestating blow. A Sale injury presumably moves Houck or Whitlock to the rotation, which weakens an already suspect looking bullpen.

Eovaldi-Pivetta-Hill-Wacha-Houck. Meh.

Available FA include Pineda, Greinke, and Danny Duffy. Kenley Jansen too.Yikes.
Zach Davies or Julio Teheran could be a good bounce back candidates. Julio would be pretty limited I imagine
 

nattysez

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Sep 30, 2010
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Sale has an opt-out after this season. I'm not sure what it would take for him to exercise that, but I hope Chaim's thinking hard and willing to be inventive.
 

Yankeessuck4ever

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Dec 22, 2021
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If the guy wasn't 120 pounds soaking wet, he might be able to stay healthier. Clearly, he doesn't take care of his body as well as he could. Somebody get him a cheeseburger!
 

DeadlySplitter

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I'm just bummed. They had to extend him given the lack of SP in the farm, and it's just gone all wrong.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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Jul 19, 2005
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Hypothetically, who do you think they’d need to staple to Sale to move that deal? I assume Casas/Yorke/Mayer are off-limits, so maybe Blaze Jordan? Or would it be more someone like Whitlock?
 

InsideTheParker

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Jul 15, 2005
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What can you do? For one thing, while you're laid up waiting for your ribs to heal, get a couple shots. It's easy. Actual babies do it all the time.
Yeah, but babies can't "do their own research." Sale is dead set on not getting the vaccine, as he has "explained." He believes that his vitamin regimen will save him.
Sounds as though he should have taken more Vit d3 and calcium for his bones and joints. I have been "done" with him for some time now.
 

curly2

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Jul 8, 2003
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Sale had an ERA+ of 150 last year with a K/BB of 4.3.
He had nine starts, two against a good team, the Rays. Three were against the godawful Orioles, one each against the Twins and Rangers, both of whom finished in last place, and one against the Mets, who basically quit the last three weeks of the season.
 

cornwalls@6

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Apr 23, 2010
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Hypothetically, who do you think they’d need to staple to Sale to move that deal? I assume Casas/Yorke/Mayer are off-limits, so maybe Blaze Jordan? Or would it be more someone like Whitlock?
Sign Freddy Freeman, and maybe Casas is moveable. A reach, I know, but like you, I would be open to a lot things to get Sale out of here, and to shed even some small % of his contract. A disastrous signing for a fragile, unreliable, self-absorded dip-shit.
 

BornToRun

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Chris Sale’s demeanor used to be one of the things I liked about him. Super competitive and openly accountable in regards to what the expectations of an ace are. Now, I just want to shake him and ask what the major malfunction is. It’s two shots FFS. There’s no microchips, there’s no 5G emitters, it’s not gonna alter your DNA. All it will do is make you less susceptible to serious illness and GASP make it so you can fulfill your obligation to the team that’s paying you millions of dollars to lead their pitching staff. This idiot really thinks it’s okay for him to abandon the team when they need to go into Toronto and play that offense? How slim of a margin kept them out of the playoffs last year? A game? Two?
 

moondog80

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He had nine starts, two against a good team, the Rays. Three were against the godawful Orioles, one each against the Twins and Rangers, both of whom finished in last place, and one against the Mets, who basically quit the last three weeks of the season.
If you want to do the math and adjust the numbers for opponent, go ahead. You're still going to end up with 42 very good innings. He was also above average for 147 IP in 2019 (ERA+ of 110). I wish he wasn't signed for three more years, but he is. It's a sunk cost. Let's hope the Sox figure out how to squeeze however many quality innings he has left in his arm.