In one of the least-surprising opt-out decisions in recent memory, left-hander Chris Sale has informed the Red Sox that he will not exercise the opt-out clause in his five-year, $145MM contract, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom tells Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.
There’s never been any real thought that Sale was a candidate to opt out of the remaining two years and $55MM on that ill-fated extension. He pitched just 5 2/3 innings with the Sox this season and, over the first three years of the agreement, has tallied just 48 1/3 innings through 11 starts. Sale underwent Tommy John surgery in March of 2020 and thus missed the entirety of that year’s truncated season.
The recovery from that Tommy John procedure sidelined him into August of 2021, and his 2022 season was derailed by a series of bizarre injuries; Sale was shelved for the beginning of the 2022 season due to a stress reaction in his ribcage, and he suffered a broken pinkie finger upon being hit by a comebacker shortly after returning. The Red Sox announced in early August that Sale had fractured his wrist in a bicycle accident and would miss the remainder of the season.
It’s been a nightmare start to the contract extension for the Red Sox, although this year’s slate of injuries, in particular, seem fluky in nature. To Sale’s credit, in the small amount of time he’s been healthy enough to take the mound during the first three years of the extension, he’s been excellent. In those 48 1/3 innings, Sale owns a 3.17 ERA with a strong 27.4%% strikeout rate against a tidy 6.3% walk rate. Inning-for-inning, that’s largely the type of performance the Sox were hoping for — but Sale’s body has not held up.
Looking ahead, the Sox have little choice but to hope Sale can get healthy and finally reclaim a spot near the front of their rotation. The lefty’s contract has zero trade value at present, and even if it did, Sale has full veto power over any potential trade by virtue of his 10-and-5 rights (ten years of Major League service time, including at least the past five with the same team).
The 33-year-old Sale (34 in March) is but one of many question marks for the Boston rotation. Nick Pivetta is the only largely established starting option for the Sox heading into 2023. Top prospect Brayan Bello could vie for a spot but didn’t quite seize one in this year’s rookie effort (57 1/3 innings, 4.71 ERA — albeit with better secondary marks). Righty Garrett Whitlock has obvious rotation potential but has thus far been shuttled between the starting staff and the bullpen. Fellow righties Kutter Crawford, Josh Winckowski and Connor Seabold were all hit hard as rookies in 2022.
Suffice it to say, with Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill all set to become free agents and Sale more or less a complete question mark, starting pitching will be one of the main focuses for the Red Sox this offseason. It won’t be their sole pursuit, however, as the Sox also potentially stand to lose Xander Bogaerts to free agency and still hope to extend slugger Rafael Devers, who is set to reach the open market following the 2023 campaign.
Including Sale’s weighty salary, the Sox have $86.72MM committed to next year’s books, although that’s counting a $20MM salary for Bogaerts, who is certain to opt out of his contract’s final three seasons. Boston also has nearly $40MM in projected arbitration salaries and is on the hook for some hefty contractual buyouts — most notably the $8MM yet owed to the since-released Jackie Bradley Jr. They’ll quite possibly be on the hook for James Paxton’s $4MM player option, which he’ll have the ability to exercise once the Sox make the easy call to decline his two-year, $26MM club option.
Bro rlly said gimme my money
Yeah just give him money and let him enjoy riding his bike plus whatever else he enjoys. It sure is not baseball.
Lou – The “whatever else” includes destroying stuff, he really likes losing his temper.
I expect to get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING out of this stiff for the rest of this contract.
Tell me, why did Chaim sign Paxton knowing there was a good chance he wasn’t going to pitch this past season.
Guaranteed contracts are certainly nice….
It’s so nice he is happy to play for
Boston.
And the sky is blue.
A guy who has thrown less than 50 innings in the last 3 years and is heading into his age 34 season isn’t going to forgo $55 million to test his luck in free agency? Shocking!
What a disaster of a contract!!! Yet teams still wanna toss them out for 350 million!
I can assure you, they dont “want” to. Truthfully at some point MLB contract structures are going to have to change in the future. They’ll either have to go with a non guaranteed structure or contract length limits. It’ll happen when more teams get burnt with the 10-13yr contracts that go belly up for whatever reason at some point be it injury or the player just losing what got him that money a-la Chris Davis.
As long as MLB revenue keeps rising, the player contracts will too. The MLBPA is never going to allow non-guaranteed contracts or contract length limits so no reason to even talk about that. Since most of the long term deals work out for the teams overall, they will keep on giving them. For every Chris Davis, Chris Sale, or David Price there is an Arod, Cano, Jeter, Posey, Kershaw, Scherzer, Greinke, or Verlander deal that worked out good for the teams. There are also deals like Votto, Harper, Machado, Arenado, and Trout that have worked out well for their teams so far.
Did the Cano contract really work out? They didn’t make the playoffs once with him and dumped him off on another team with plenty of time left on it because he was such a net negative at that point.
That is because most of them work out for the team. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t keep signing players to those deals.
I heard Chaim Bloom stormed down the tunnel to the clubhouse and trashed a tv when he heard.
Hide the scissors!
whatwouldyogido — That already happened . . . back when he found out he was inheriting this albatross of a contract from DD.
It went something like this: Bloom said “I get Sale’s contract, I have to dump Price’s contract, and Mookie has to go, because the payroll situation is trash. At least I have some minor leaguers. Wait he traded away how many prospects?!?” — Then he stormed out.
All part of DD’s master plan.
His plan? Win 3 division titles and a World Series title. Then get fired!!
Yes, DD did all that so he could move on to Philly.
nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/three-deals-illustrat…
“Here’s the thing about Dave Dombrowski’s “worst” deals — they almost always landed impact players.
When he overpaid for closer Craig Kimbrel, in his first major acquisition as Red Sox president of baseball operations, he still landed an All-Star. When he took the David Price bidding into the stratosphere in what became the highest contract ever given to a pitcher, he still landed the de facto 2018 postseason MVP. When he surrendered promising left-hander Jalen Beeks to the Rays, he still landed eventual playoff hero Nathan Eovaldi.”
None of the prospects that Dombrowski traded away have contributed to a WS title for those teams. Most never even made it to the majors. Even fewer became major league regulars. Not one great player in the bunch. Dombrowski delivered a title. So Red Sox fans, do you want those prospects back at the cost of those division titles and WS win?
The point of the article written right after Dombrowski was fired is that he overpaid for players when he didn’t need to. That was the perception at the time. He obviously did a lot of good and won a World Series. I posted the article in response to LouWhitakerHOF who made it sound like Dombrowski did nothing wrong.
The article starts off by saying that he did things right. He won the WS and 3 division titles. He made many good trades. Any good fan would trade every prospect in farm system and a 4-5 years with bad records for a WS title. So if you want to whine and moan about Dombrowski, come back in 2025 if they are not competing for the East by then.
I didn’t whine and moan about Dombrowski. I gave an even-handed review. I acknowledged the good and bad he did and the article I posted did the same. One of the points of the article was that Dombrowski overpaid for players when he didn’t need to. That is an unsustainable approach and it makes sense that this led to him being fired which is my main point. A guy who won a World Series and division titles can still face criticism. LouWhitakerHOF did not seem to get that and you don’t seem to get that.
Then Bloom said “.. I want JBJ back! I know I’ll trade Renfro for him!” Then Bloom said “… where’s all the broken down pitchers yeah I need to sign Paxon!”
Gee how lucky we are to have this genius Bloom huh? The Betts trade has worked out sooooo well can’t wait to see what he gets for Devers!
Lol, So let me get this straight. All you have is JBJ and Paxton. I’d take JBJ, Paxton times 10 to avoid the Sale contract. And the Betts trade was 100% due to the dire state of the Red Sox team, that DD left him.
It was DD that went over the threshold 3 times in a row, it was DD that signed that terrible David Price contract. In case you forgot, Price had to be added to the trade, which greatly reduced the trade return.
Next time, you guys want to defend Dumbrowski, please find someone who can at least spell Jim Paxton’s name.
So you are saying you want to give up those division pennants and that WS title? WHAT a fan. NOT!
Uhm, Dombrowski isn’t even over the luxury tax threshold if he didn’t inherit the albatross Hanley and Pablo deals from the prior regime.
And you guys say this crap only happens to the Angels lololol
The Nationals and Strasburg is worse.
Right?!!! At least Sale is a question mark. Strasburg isn’t even that at this point.
Chris Sale for Marcel Ozuna straight up and see who wins!
@Bald eagle 49: That’s funny because I had the same thought when I saw the headline. What if the Braves include Eddie Rosario in the deal? 2 years of Ozuna @16 mill (2025 club option @16 mill w/1 mill buyout) and 1 year of Rosario @9 mill (2024 club option w/no buyout @ 9 mill.) Braves dump their albatross while taking on 13 mill more in salary. Sox can dfa Ozuna (if they don’t want to face the pr hit) and appease their fans by gaining a possibly useful player (Rosario) and 13 mill in salary relief. Would RS fans hate this?
I’m all for it, but Boston, just don’t let Ozuna drive the team bus or date the owners’ daughter…
Of course he won’t.
This should have been 2 articles.
Article one Sale opts in to contract comments closed.
Article 2 Red Sox staff in 23.
As a Phillies fan stoked for Pivetta and his last 2 seasons….The coaches did their best to screw Pivetta and Eflin as much as possible. Tried to force the 4seemhighfastball down these guys throats.
After too long, Pivetta said nope and was traded, Eflin finally followed suit then a new p-coach was brought in….
Best of luck in 23/24 arb
Water is wet, the sky is blue, does the religious leader relieve themselves in the woods? Etc.
Chris Sale is basically cashing short term lottery annuity checks at this point. I am sure he’s extremely frustrated and a little embarrassed about how this contract has played out, but the money is real and he’s getting his paycheck for better or worse.
Sucks for him. Good for him. Smart move. Why give up $30M a year for a minor league signing and pro rated $3M major merger salary with $3M in incentives?
If he were upset and embarrassed about it he would not continually put himself in these difficult positions.. It’s probably more embarrassing for the Sox and their fans than it is for Sale.
Put himself in those difficult situations? You mean like the difficult situation of having a 108 mph line drive ricochet off your pitching hand? Or the stress fracture in the rib cage from a throwing session? How exactly was Sale supposed to avoid any of these injuries?
Choke on it, Boston.
Chris Sale has opted in to stealing money for two more years
The owners essentially steal money from players the first seven years they are in the league so Sale shouldn’t worry about it too much.
Hoo-Boy, what a crock
I won’t argue with you there but Sale signed this “team friendly deal” right as he was breaking down and he’s flat out robbed the Red Sox blind for three years. Though as a Yankees fan, I’m not complaining
Well Yankees did also get robbed by Ellsbury for 6 years and that had dire effects while the team was trying to duck under the old LTT. Sale has two more years and could rebound.
So you are trying to say that Sale knew he was breaking down? That he would immediately need Tommy John signing the deal and then get hit by a comebacker and fall off a bike once he recovered from TJ? What a crock.
Yes!!!!! Chaim Blooms off-season is off to a great start ….. rolls eyes.
so now bloom can control if a PLAYER opts outs of a contract that was signed under his predecessor?
i bet a lot Red Sox fans are happy hahahaha
he helped the red sox win it all in 2018. as a yankee fan i’d say getting a championship and an albatross extension is better than getting neither
Sale won 12 games that year. Price won 17.
I wouldn’t pay either a nickel in 2022 or 2023
Sale made 27 starts with a 2.11 ERA, 1.98 FIP and 209 ERA+. Price made 3 more starts with a 3.58 ERA, 4.02 FIP, and 123 ERA+. Just goes to show how bad wins are at measuring pitcher performance.
If you wouldn’t pay a nickel for Chris Sale or David Price than you would be a far worse GM than any you have ever criticized
Any team in the league would love either of them on a 1 million 1 year deal
I say ‘championship’ and then DONT give an albatross extension, to a pitcher who is currently injured, at the time of signing.
It would go something like this “Mr Sale, you pitched 5 times in the regular season after July 27th 2018, lets wait a year, before we give you a mega-c0ntract.”
But then again, I’m victim to a thing called ‘Common Sense’ that not usually found in MLBTR comment sections.
You’re a victim to a thing called “hindsight”. It can really skew your perception of what things were like in the past and cause you to have an overinflated view of your opinions
Death, taxes, and Chris Sale not exercising the opt out in his contract?
What are three things that are virtually guaranteed
People all against this but when healthy, Sale is a gamer. I was never opposed to resigning him.
That being said, there is a lot of work to be done to rebuild this ball club this off-season. There will be a lot of changes I presume.
you’re in the minority then because most people who watched sale pitch knew given his mechanics he was at high risk for injury. Also most players who are “gamers” are mature and don’t pout and comp up uniforms or smash up TVs because they have a bad outing.
“when healthy” But he wasn’t healthy when he signed that extension, and it was common knowledge.
orioles/https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/10/5/17939542/alds-red-sox-yankees-chris-sale-game-1
It was a gamble. I thought it was a better gamble then dishing out a lot for David Price.
I’m all against overpaying but to me, this was the one guy I would pay because he’s a pitcher and winner.
Ortiz smashed a phone. Yeah, dumb decision but it doesn’t take away his maturity as a hitter.
And Sale took full responsibility for his actions, as he does when he loses.
Yeah, it might have been an overpay but I disagree with you that everyone knew. I think a lot of people liked the deal at the time and only hate it now because he was injured. We wouldn’t be talking any of this if he were healthy because he’s straight up dominant when he was.
I also remember him yelling and cheering on the guys to help us win in the 18 World Series. Guy is a winner when healthy.
Lol you all really don’t understand or like the complexity that is risk and guaranteed salaries.
Anyone calling it stealing were probably celebrating it when the ink was still wet.
or when he was paid minimum and blowing the doors off guys. Some players get screwed their first few years getting the minimum while playing Allstar level.
Gezz does a long contract ever work out with pitchers? They don’t deserve it about 90% of the time!
Kershaw, Scherzer, Greinke, Verlander to name a few. The answer is yes.
Zack Wheeler’s 5 year deal was a solid sign by the Phils.
Prolly the biggest duh of the baseball season
Pretty scary when Nick Pivetta is your “established starting option “…
Think the Sox learned anything from Sale’s disastrous extension? Naw.
To Sales credit, he was a big fan of Freddy Mercury and after hearing “I want to ride my bicycle” decided to take his schwinn out for a spin
Indianfan – Yes, they learned Dave Dombrowski spends too much money over the luxury tax….and the result was that he got fired.
Trade Devers for starting pitching. Sign or trade for a 3B that plays at least league average defense or a SS willing to move to 3B.
Shocker.
The continued decline in popularity will change the contract values.
Lol red sox and this guys contract.
Sale wants to stay and make good on his contract, and I believe he will because he’s a competitor. Just watch.
You heard it first from Mike Butt.
Leave the money on the table and just pitch. That’s what an honorable person would do. A multi-millionaire taking money for less than 1 percent of the work he was supposed to do.
An honorable person would go out and try to finish off his contract strong. That is what Sale will do. A stupid person would leave $55 million on the table.
Bingo. People who think he should hand back a billionaire millions of dollars are hilariously obtuse.
If I showed up for 1/3 of 1 percent of an expected year’s work every year for 4 years, I’d be fired. If that actually happened I’d be too ashamed to take the money, especially if I kept re-injuring myself through irresponsible personal behavior.
I doubt it.
What exactly was irresponsible on Sale’s part for his injuries? Tommy John was literally the result of hundreds of innings and many thousands of pitches, all which stress the ligaments in your arm. Was he supposed to avoid a 108 mph line drive right back at his face? Or are you blaming him for hitting a pothole and falling off a bike which happens to people every day?