The Red Sox have announced that Chris Sale “underwent an open reduction and internal fixation of a left fifth finger proximal phalanx fracture” today. While the timeline isn’t crystal clear at the moment, the team believes it’s still possible for Sale to return later this year. (Twitter links from Chris Cotillo of MassLive and Chad Jennings of The Athletic.)
Yesterday, Sale had to leave his start against the Yankees without getting out of the first inning after a comebacker struck his pitching hand, clearly injuring it. The Red Sox later announced that his pinky finger, or “left fifth finger,” was broken. After the game, Sale himself said he expected to miss 4-6 weeks, though the fact that surgery was necessary raises the potential that a longer recovery time might be required.
In a lengthier look at the issue, Cotillo speaks to orthopedic surgeon Chris Geary, who believes that Sale won’t even be able to pick up a ball for 4-6 weeks. That means it would be late August before Sale can even begin to throw bullpen sessions, which wouldn’t leave him much time to go on a rehab assignment and get himself back into game shape, especially when considering he had just returned from a different injury. After being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his rib cage in the spring, he missed the first few months of the season and only recently returned, making one healthy start, followed by the start where his finger was broken.
While the club believes Sale can still return at some point, they may have to operate under the assumption that his season is done, at least from a rotation perspective. Ramping up towards shorter stints out of the bullpen wouldn’t take as much time as returning to a full starter’s workload, which would make it easier for Sale to return as a reliever.
The club has been especially snakebit in the rotation lately, with Rich Hill, Michael Wacha, Connor Seabold and Josh Winckowski all landing on the injured list in the past three weeks. With Sale sure to join them, that will leave Boston with a rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and Kutter Crawford coming out of the All-Star break. James Paxton is still working his way back from April 2021 Tommy John surgery but has yet to begin a rehab assignment. Garrett Whitlock was in the rotation earlier this year but just returned from his own IL stint as a reliever and isn’t fully stretched out. Prospect Brayan Bello made a couple of starts recently, but allowed nine earned runs in eight innings.
Those struggles in the rotation have coincided with a slide in the standings. Since June 26, they’ve gone 6-14 and slipped to two games back of the Blue Jays for the final American League Wild Card spot. The August 2 trade deadline is now just over two weeks away and they will surely have to consider adding some arms, even if some of their injured hurlers are able to make it back onto the hill. Although, if they slide any further in the coming weeks, it might impact how aggressive they are willing to be.
He caught a break.
Snakebit
“Sell Sale”
He’s irrelevant. The Sox should forget about him; they still have enough to catch a wild card..
Not pitching wise we don’t. If you think Wacha, Paxton coming off Tommy John, Rich Hill who is practically pushing 60, Eovaldi who’s had one healthy season in the last 5 years, and Pivetta who is the poster boy for inconsistency is enough to get us a playoff spot, you must be puffin some GREAT stuff kid.
A Mayer head liner can get u Castillo from reds. Throw in bello and u might be able to get mahle too
No thanks
@Big whiffa- No definitely don’t trade Mayer or Casas for Castillo. That’s crazy!
Casas for Castillo is not a bad deal at all
I’m not saying I would want the Red Sox to make that deal if I were a fan, but it is not a bad deal
It’s not even the starters, it’s the bullpen. And honestly, who’s been hitting lately? I thumbed up because you are right we won’t make the playoffs but I think it’s because of everything but the starters and defense.
They shouldn’t even be thinking wild card. They wouldn’t have the horses to advance. They should be marketing Bogearts, JD, Vazquez, etc. right now. Bloom has hurt this team. Another thing they should do right now, being the break, is let Cora go. He got lucky last year but it’s evident that, without cheating, he’s terrible. Bring in Varitek.
I wouldn’t say it’s all Bloom’s fault. He did set us up to fail for this season with no clear bullpen but he’s been building the farm since he’s here, something Dombrowski had never done. Short term he’s been poor, long term he’s made some good deals.
Cora- I love the guy in the playoffs. But he may get fired if he keeps managing regular season games as if it’s game 7 of the World Series. His gutsy decisions have helped us in the playoffs but don’t always pay off in regular season games. You can’t rely on intuition for those.
Dave Dombrowsky wasn’t in Boston long enough to build a farm.
Dombrowski traded away 19 prospects in three years, while getting back very few. He may not have had time to ‘build a farm’ but he certainly found the time to destroy one. — On the other side Bloom is making deals that bring in prospects, Benintendi and Renfroe (received 7 prospects) trades are examples of those.
Dombrowski’s goal was to win the World Series. Mission accomplished….he traded prospects for Sale, Kimbrel, Pearce, Eovaldi….Who else? I think most teams and their fans would gladly trade destroying their farm system for winning a World Series. I would make that trade again. This is what I was trying to say to you the other day.
The Red Sox also underwent an “open reduction” of their playoff chances.
As a Redsox fan I’m disappointed we gave up a great prospect in moncada for him this man is the Anthony Davis of baseball just stay getting hurt I don’t trust this man walking to his mailbox
I don’t think they win in 18 with Moncada though. It’s the extension, not the trade that didn’t work.
You are correct. That extension has looked horrible, although this injury obviously isn’t Sale’s fault. Still, this one shouldn’t effect his abilities if all goes well, so he can contribute in the future, and he still is a main reason we have the 2018 title.
We gave up Moncada to win a World Series. The same with Hailey Ramierez and Anabel Sanchez for Josh Beckett. I’d sell him all over again. Didn’t Moncada spend most of the season on the DL?
Red Sox fans love to complain when everything doesn’t go perfectly (and sometimes when it does).
They would never have won a WS without Sale (wasn’t so long ago they would have sold their collative souls to win a WS).
So the Red Sox gave him an extension and it isn’t working out. Guess what – White Sox fans are pretty upset with Moncada and the extension he got.
Ya wanna be the fan of an MBL team, this stuff happens.
“They would never have won a WS without Sale”
“So the Red Sox gave him an extension and it isn’t working out.”
One has nothing to do with the other. Sale extension was after winning the Championship.
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“White Sox fans are pretty upset with Moncada and the extension he got.”
Moncada was healthy and signed a 5 yr/75M extension, which covered just his control years, plus one. Sale was injured for 5 months, showing loss of velocity at season’s end and signed a 5yr/150M extension with an opt out, midway through. And no injury protection for the team. — One’s a good contract the other is not.
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If you’re going to present the facts like youre being reasonable, at least give all the facts.
He ain’t wrong on this one
They paid a lot to get that one additional year for Moncada. It was def a bad deal in retrospect, though not as bad as Sale’s extension
@Samuel spoken for truth. I actually approve of the Sale signing.
I approved also. You can’t let that type of talent walk.
Are you joking? The trade was well worth it. They should’ve let him walk after his contract was up. That was the mistake.
…. this is the most stupid post from a RedSucks fan…. Ever!!
I believe this is a Cuban RedSucks fan!!
Yoan Moncada is oft injured himself and does not make the BoSox any better. He was a flop at 2B and if he stays in Boston, Rafael Devers doesn’t get a call. Michael Kopech had one exciting season in the pen but still hasn’t realized his potential.
He’ll be ready in time for the playoffs of which the Red Sox will not be a part of anyhow.
I remember when Sale was the prize trade target and the Sox extension deal was seen as a very reasonable market value payment for him- not too little, not too much, just right.
He’s given the Red Sox 1.1 WAR over 48.1 innings in 3 seasons for a total of $90M – realities of the shortened prorated 2020 season aside, but considering he didn’t pitch at all he would’ve missed that season anyway, so they might as well have been paying the full $30M that year.
With the benefit of hindsight, one is never wrong.
Do you remember he was injured, and many questioned his health, before the extension. Sale only made 5 starts after July 28th in 2018. I dont think thats hindsight.
From MLBTR, Sept 27th, 2018:
Chris Sale’s radar gun readings are sounding alarm bells in Boston, where the left-hander sat at a career low 90.1 MPH with his fastball in Wednesday’s outing against the Orioles, the fourth in a series of diminished-velocity starts since his return from the DL after a bout with left shoulder inflammation.
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5 months later Red Sox sign him to a 150M Contract Extention.
I was watching when that happened. It was ugly. I’m surprised he’s going to be back this year.
Would a Chris Sale, Jeter downs for Eric Hosmer and Austin Nola make sense ?
Make sense for whom?
Either team, bad contract for another bad contract. Saux get Nola in case Vazquez leaves next year and padres get rid of hosmer and get a prospect
Thats a reasonable trade for both sides.
Chris Sale – More money than Eric Hosmer, Sale has bigger upside (as in he may be back, while Hosmer is Hosmer) — Edge Padres
Austin Nola-Much better than Downs—Edge Red Sox
That works.
Pads don’t really need pitching upside in the short term. They have a pretty deep group of starters. They are too close to the LT to be taking on more money this year too.
It would have to be an off-season deal since Sale cannot come off the IL until after the deadline.
Absolutely not. Are you insane?
Time will tell if this affects his bedroom activities.
come on that was low as far as we know he isn’t trevor, and if he was he still has his other hand
Consensual like Trevor then?
it’s only consensual if he uses his off-hand
So basically, his pinky was shattered.
What’s even worse is that he wasn’t pitching so well.
After watching the batted ball that hit Chris, my feeling it could have been sooooo much worse. If the ball was a hair more to Chris’ right it would have hit him in the face. I have always said that being a pitcher is the scariest position on the field as a rocket hit back through the box is almost impossible to catch.
Hope you make it back soon Chris!!
It could’ve also shattered his hand which would probably mean missing the season entirely.
The pinky on David Cone’s pitching hand was broken on a bunt attempt on May 27, 1987. He returned on August 15 that year and lowered his ERA from 4.60 to 3.71.
This will be Aaron Hicks’ greatest contribution to the Yankees division title all year.
The Red Sox were already 15.5 games behind the Yankees before the game started.
Yeah, and Hicks contributed NOTHING to building that lead. Point stands, but thanks for playing.
I love it when guys make erroneous comments and then declare themselves some kind of winner with remarks like “thanks for playing.”
Hicks owns the 8th-best position player fWAR on the Yankees, and in April he was 4th on the team in fWAR. Clearly, he’s contributed to building and maintaining the lead.
Maybe the advanced metrics are too unfamiliar to you to get the message across, so let’s go with the conventional ones. Hicks ranks 7th on the Yankees in runs (35) and 8th in RBI (29). He ranks second in stolen bases.
On defense, he ranks 5th on the team in Defensive Runs Saved and 6th in Outs Above Average.
That’s not “NOTHING.”
@Fink Remarkably, Hicks is at 1.3 bWar / 1.4 fWar which places him the top 32nd OF in MLB and right above Yelich.
BTW, Hicks hadn’t played in a major league game since May 12, 2021, so it was expected he’d have to knock off some rust. In the last 30 days, he has a 166 wRC+ and a .939 OPS, and he ranks in the 9th tier in fWAR among all outfielders.
Fink,
With Carpenter, the revived Hicks, and Locastro the Yankees are much more likely to hunt for pitching help.
I won’t be surprised if they add an outfield bat, Mick, but you’re right: they should prioritize pitching.
Small sample size much? You’re cherry picking 72 out of 233 at bats for a guy who’s likely to get injured again, as he always does.
Using the entire season’s stats is hardly cherry-picking. In fact, it’s the precise opposite of cherry-picking.
Do yourself a favor and stop now.
Hicks is playing a lot better lately. He was out all of last year so expecting him to step right in without an adjustment period wasn’t realistic.
‘The Red Sox have announced that Chris Sale “underwent an open reduction and internal fixation of a left fifth finger proximal phalanx fracture” today.’
That’s easy for you to say!
(cue “Get Smart” theme)
Or, as Dr. Boonedoggle would say, “He gots an owie.”
As a former pitcher who’s been carted off the field twice (knee and head), it’s worse seeing it happen to someone else.
Raise the white flag on the Red Sox season. Start planning for next year. There’s a lot of talent there but a lot to work out. Injuries happen. Poop.
As others have noted, he could be quite a weapon out of the bullpen in the postseason if they manage to snag a Wild Card berth.
Chris Sale “Man Of Glass” and “King of Class”
He could still be valuable to the Red Sox if they make the postseason. If he’s not stretched out, Sale from the pen could be a weapon. If they don’t make the postseason, they could simply decide to shut him down for the remainder of the season, although there is still value in getting some additional innings. So, either way, my guesss is he should be back this season, even if but briefly.
He sure has been worth the investment for the Portland Seadogs.
He’s not even that good anymore when he’s healthy. The Yankees own him and any Red Sox fan that doesn’t think that, doesn’t know baseball.
He hasn’t been great, that’s for sure but Yankees owning him? I think he pitched against the Yankees only once or twice since 2020. Nice try there.
in 2019 he gave up 22 earned runs in 20 innings to them lol…he then missed 2020….nice try buddy!!!!
If I’m Boston, I’m not rushing him back at all… Start next spring with a clean slate