Chris Sale Begins Throwing Program
Red Sox ace Chris Sale has begun a throwing program at the team’s spring complex, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. It’s the first throwing action for the left-hander since he was diagnosed with a flexor strain earlier this month.
Sale’s health has been an ongoing point of discussion for upwards of 18 months in Boston. The southpaw spent two stints on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation late in the 2018 season, but the Sox were convinced of his health last spring when signing him to a five-year, $145MM contract extension. Concerns escalated when Sale experienced a dip in velocity early in the ’19 season and pitched to an alarming 6.30 ERA through the end of April.
However, Sale’s velocity trended back up, and over his next 15 starts, he looked like his vintage self: 93 2/3 innings of 3.27 ERA ball with a sensational 150-to-22 K/BB ratio. Three of his next four (and final four) starts of the season were clunkers, though, and Sale went on the shelf for the remainder of the season on Aug. 17.
Sale was cleared of ligament damage last August and underwent a platelet-rich plasma injection as well as a six-week period of rest and rehab. The lefty went through an offseason throwing program but was slowed by pneumonia early in camp before undergoing an MRI that revealed the flexor strain he’s currently battling. He’s been cleared of ligament damage, but Speier notes that surgery to repair the flexor issue remains a possibility if the throwing program doesn’t go well.
The Red Sox are paying Sale $30MM in 2020 — the first season of his front-loaded extension. The delayed start to the 2020 season could give him an opportunity to return to health prior to Opening Day (the date of which remains unclear) — an outcome that didn’t appear possible just weeks ago. That would be a substantial boost for the Red Sox, as their rotation behind the lefty is mired with question marks. Eduardo Rodriguez is presently projected to get the Opening Day nod. He’ll be followed by Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez and a yet-to-be-determined fourth and fifth starter. If Sale is healthy, the Sox would only need to fill one spot; Collin McHugh (who is also on the mend), Ryan Weber, Matt Hall, Kyle Hart and Mike Shawaryn are among the in-house options.
AL Notes: Pitchers, Mariners, Sale, Click
Pitchers are creatures of habit, yet the indeterminate delay to the 2020 season is the biggest possible disruption to any preseason routine. Like every team, the Mariners are trying to figure out the best way of keeping their pitchers on some type of regular throwing schedule to keep them prepared, while not really knowing when actual games will get underway. “You don’t want to lose a whole lot of momentum. We also don’t want to build them too quickly,” manager Scott Servais told MLB.com’s Greg Johns and other media. “Most guys are at three or four innings, at 50-60 pitches, so we’ll try to keep them right there with our starters. And then we’ll ramp them up once we get closer to knowing what the for-certain Opening Day would be. For now, we just want guys to stay active, play some catch. You won’t see anybody throwing sides or catchers with gear on, we’re just going to try to slow it down here for the next few days.”
More from around the American League….
- One pitcher whose routine may not be impacted by the elongated offseason is Chris Sale, as Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) that “from a medical perspective, nothing really changes with” Sale’s loosely-established timeline. “There’s uncertainty regarding his pitching status generally that we want to resolve. We’re still going to want to resolve that,” Bloom said. “We’re still going to want to progress him. We haven’t gotten to that point yet, but we’re still going to work, even during this time period, without games, to get some progress and get some more definition on his status.” A flexor strain led to Sale being shut down earlier this month, and if all is proceeding well, he should be on the verge of resuming throwing. The delayed Opening Day could mean that Sale won’t miss any regular-season action, though naturally the Sox are taking things as carefully as possible with the ace southpaw.
- James Click “rose from constructing an ultimate frisbee website on a whim to shepherding the Houston Astros forward,” the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome writes in a profile of the Astros‘ new general manager. Click’s pre-Houston resume included a stint as a writer and database-builder for Baseball Prospectus, which led to 14 years working in the Rays’ front office thanks to a recommendation from another new Rays intern and former BP writer in Chaim Bloom, now Boston’s chief baseball officer. Rome’s piece is a strong look at an executive whose arrival at a GM position comes with the added challenge of trying to reconfigure the Astros after an offseason of scandal and public scorn.
Chris Sale Discusses Elbow Outlook
Red Sox lefty Chris Sale has avoided the worst case scenario — for now. That’s the good news. But the situation “sucks,” he acknowledged in a discussion with reporters including Ian Browne of MLB.com (links to Twitter).
Sale has not incurred new damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. But he’s still not in the clear. His most recent attempt to ramp up ran into yet more elbow trouble, casting doubt as to whether he can proceed without surgical intervention.
At this point, the veteran southpaw says, he simply doesn’t know what to anticipate. On the one hand, there’s still hope that he’ll be able to return relatively early in the 2020 season. Once the inflammation subsides in a few weeks’ time, he’ll attempt to start throwing again. If everything goes well, Sale might conceivably miss only a month or so of action.
And what if the elbow keeps barking? That would seem to put an end to the rest-and-rehab approach that he and the team have employed since last summer. Sale acknowledged that Tommy John surgery is a possibility. It isn’t entirely clear whether other surgical approaches may also be considered.
It’s a tough spot for the Red Sox, who have $145MM invested in the star southpaw for the next five seasons. Sale offered a tough self-assessment. “I was able to get through most of my career doing what I love to do and helping my team win,” he said. “For sure, over the last year and up to this point, I’ve done nothing but fall flat on my face.”
Those harsh words are surely a reflection of a trying situation. But it’s hard to fault Sale himself for the fix he’s in. He has long been durable, productive, and (by all indications) hard-working. Unfortunately, elbow woes are common for hurlers.
Chris Sale Diagnosed With Flexor Strain
March 5: Sale has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, Roenicke tells reporters (Twitter link via Mastrodonato). He’ll be shut down from throwing until next week and even then will be limited to simply playing catch. The next steps will depend on how he responds to that activity. Roenicke notes that Sale’s “UCL looks the same as the last image.”
March 4, 4:35pm: At this point, there’s no expectation that Sale will require Tommy John surgery, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.
9:05am: We learned yesterday that star Red Sox lefty Chris Sale had undergone an MRI after he experienced elbow soreness, with Dr. James Andrews set to review the results. That has now occurred, but a diagnosis and course of treatment remain unknown.
Boston manager Ron Roenicke tells reporters, including Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald (Twitter link) and Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe (Twitter link), that the club has sought another opinion. Another premier specialist, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, will review the imaging and weigh in with his opinion.
Presumably, the hope is to land upon a consensus after receiving the viewpoints of Andrews, ElAttrache, and the Sox’ own team medical staff. All involved are taking their time, says Roenicke, because there’s a “need to get this right.”
Sale will ultimately decide upon what course of treatment he deems best. But there’s a shared interest in arriving upon the best long-term approach to his as-yet-unclear elbow ailment. The Red Sox owe Sale $145MM over the next five seasons.
Roenicke says that fans and media shouldn’t read into the ongoing uncertainty. Sale isn’t necessarily staring down Tommy John surgery, it seems. Indeed, it’s not really even clear whether that is a possibility on the table at the moment.
What is known to this point: Sale was shut down and received platelet-rich plasma treatment in August after visiting Andrews. The southpaw said he had been cleared of ligament damage. He was cleared to throw over the winter; indications were that he’d be a full participant in Spring Training. Sale was delayed at the outset of camp, with the explanation given that he was dealing with a case of pneumonia, but began throwing recently without evident issue. But his elbow began barking after facing live hitters recently, prompting this new round of medical analysis.
Latest On Boston’s Rotation
Ever since last week’s news that Chris Sale will begin the 2020 season on the injured list, there has been much speculation about how the Red Sox would fill his absence. Even though it currently seems that he won’t need to go under the knife for Tommy John surgery, the team will still need to replace him in some fashion.
It was recently revealed that the Boston brass are open-minded as to how they go about filling Sale’s innings, having put the opener strategy on the table.
Jason Mastrodonato of The Boston Herald spoke with Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke, who gave some details about a presentation from chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. (Bloom, of course, was with the Rays when they pioneered the use of the opener.)
Roenicke outlined that they are still considering using two openers, as well as using some pitchers to “pitch three innings every three days.”
It seems the approach is still in a very speculative stage. One element being considered is the stretching out of Darwinzon Hernández. Before last year, Hernández had primarily been a starter in the minors. But 2019 saw him oscillate between starting and the bullpen, making 12 starts and and five appearances at two minor levels to go along with one start and 28 relief appearances in the big leagues. What form his contribution will take in 2020 seems to still be up in the air.
“We talked about it again a couple days ago,” Roenicke said, “and I think that talk is probably going to continue on with him. Especially the better he does at more innings, we’ll probably keep talking about it. Maybe he’s at two innings and then goes to three. Then we’re like, ‘OK, do we try this guy and see how he does starting?’ Those conversations I imagine will probably happen through the years.”
Another name to watch out for is Ryan Weber, according to Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. Abraham notes that the Red Sox are trying to maximize Weber’s five-pitch mix by increasing the use of his cutter.
Much like Hernández, Weber’s position within the staff doesn’t seem to be locked down. But that doesn’t seem to be bothering him. “If I get the ball in the first inning or the third inning, I’m going to pitch the way I pitch,” Weber said. “I’m comfortable starting or relieving.” Weber made 16 starts for the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox in 2019. But at the big league level, only three of his 18 appearances were starts.
The bottom line seems to be that all options are being kept open for now. As Roenicke says, “I think we’re still hoping that one of these guys that we’re looking at in camp is going to ‘wow’ us basically and we know we can go with him as a starter every fifth day,” he said. “So I think that’s what we’re waiting for.”
If Hernández and Weber don’t provide that ‘wow’ factor, Boston does have other options, as recently outlined by MLBTR’s Connor Byrne. Though the Fenway faithful will surely be hoping for Sale’s speedy recovery and that whatever emergency measures are required are only temporary fixes.
Red Sox Notes: Sale, Opener, Eovaldi, Martinez, Downs
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom declined to speculate on the status of southpaw Chris Sale before getting final word from the doctors. Sale underwent an MRI today for a sore elbow. As Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times covers via Twitter, Bloom acknowledged “concern” but also said that, “hopefully, it is just a bump in the road.” The team does have some information beyond what is known publicly; as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe notes on Twitter, team doctors have already had a look at the imaging. But it seems that we’ll have to await the assessment of Dr. James Andrews before learning of Sale’ fate.
More from the Boston organization …
- Even before this worrisome situation arose regarding Sale, the Red Sox have been toying with the idea of utilizing a starter at time in the upcoming season. As MLB.com’s Ian Browne reported recently, Bloom has been working with manager Ron Roenicke to work through the possibilities for employing such a strategy. Roenicke says the reasoning behind the concept is largely a reflection of the “personnel” available. Clearly, any lengthy absence from Sale would only increase the appeal.
- On the positive side, the Sox have seen some encouraging signs from Nathan Eovaldi. As Browne further reports, the embattled righty says he “feel[s] really good” and believes his “mechanics are really good right now.” The results have been there to this point, not that there’s much sense putting too much stock in two spring appearances. But the Boston organization has to hope that the 30-year-old can sustain some momentum after a 2019 campaign in which he stumbled to a 5.99 ERA in 67 2/3 innings.
- Veteran Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez held forth on a few labor topics with WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. The star expressed concern with the incentives teams have in constructing rosters. By his reckoning, baseball is “losing a lot of fans because teams are more motivate to lose than they are to win.” Martinez suggests that the competitive balance tax has had the opposite of its intended effect. He advocates for a “floor tax” by which teams would be penalized for under-spending. Ultimately, says Martinez, the game must “figure out a way to reward teams for competing and not reward them for losing” — or risk fading in relevance.
- Infield prospect Jeter Downs was dropped into the Boston spotlight when he was included as a major component of the (re-formulated) Mookie Betts swap. As Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic writes (subscription link), the Sox are getting a player who’s known more as a dedicated grinder than for his flash. Though Downs wasn’t in the initial iteration of the Betts deal, he wasn’t an afterthought. It seems the Red Sox have long had eyes for the 21-year-old and were particularly impressed by some mid-2019 tweaks that both reflected Downs’s attention to detail and raised his foreseeable ceiling as a hitter.
Chris Sale Headed For Elbow MRI
Star Red Sox lefty Chris Sale is slated to undergo an MRI on his elbow, skipper Ron Roenicke tells reporters including Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald (via Twitter). At this point, the outlook isn’t known.
Sale reported soreness in the joint after throwing. He had dealt with some arm woes late last year, but seemed to be at full arm health as camp opened. Sale was delayed by illness, but the expectation was that he’d be able to ramp up as normal — just on a slight delay.
The results of the MRI will be sent to famed surgeon Dr. James Andrews for analysis. That’s alarming, at first glance, given that Andrews is known for performing so many Tommy John surgeries. That said, it’s also an obvious and sensible decision, given that the orthopedist treated Sale last season and is therefore intimately familiar with his medical situation.
There’s no reason to rush to judgment. But the situation is obviously concerning for a Boston organization that is entering an interesting and uncertain season. Just days ago, Sale told MLB.com that his arm felt good. Now, there’s sufficient cause for imaging.
Sale’s importance to the Red Sox largely goes without saying. The long-time ace is not only a key component of the rotation, but will occupy a big chunk of the team’s spending for the next several years. The extension he signed this time last year guarantees $145MM in salary from 2020 through 2024.
Chris Sale To Open Season On Injured List
Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke says that star lefty Chris Sale won’t be ready for the start of the season, as Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter links). This news doesn’t come as a surprise but is still a bit of a disappointment. It’s worth reminding that the recent slate of rule changes in MLB included pushing the minimum IL stay for pitchers back to 15 days.
Sale, whose return from elbow woes was interrupted by pneumonia, is said to be approximately two weeks behind the schedule of the remainder of the team’s starters. That provides a solid gauge as to the earliest possible point at which he’d be slotted back into the MLB rotation. Fortunately, the delay largely reflects the poorly timed illness, not any development of concern with regard to Sale’s throwing arm.
While the Sox would surely prefer to hand Sale the ball on Opening Day, the team can live with a few missed starts. That said, the organization needs to rack up every possible win if it hopes to surprise sans Mookie Betts. Even with the rival Yankees dealing with a host of worrisome health problems early in camp, the New York roster is loaded. The Rays look strong and there are several good Wild Card competitors from other divisions.
Despite the desire to turn Sale loose as soon as possible, it’s quite understandable that the Red Sox would elect a conservative course. The club is invested in him for the long run and has obviously not put all of its eggs in the 2020 basket.
AL Notes: Red Sox, Rusney, Sale, Indians, Pujols
Remember Rusney Castillo? Signed to a seven-year, $72.5MM contract in August 2014, the Cuban outfielder had a rough season in the majors with the Red Sox the next year and has barely appeared in the majors since. The Red Sox have minimized their luxury-tax bill by keeping Castillo in the minors, and he’s likely to stay with Triple-A Pawtucket this season, but he’ll be a free agent thereafter. The 32-year-old discussed his status with Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, saying: “My goal remains the same: I want to make it to the big leagues. And if given the opportunity, give 100% to Boston. That’s the goal, to get up there.” As Mastrodonato notes, there’s at least an outside chance Castillo will return to Boston late in the season if the team’s well under the tax threshold by then (he’s due a $14.3MM salary, so it could be a tall order to fit him in). Castillo will first have to impress in Pawtucket for that to happen, though. He wasn’t great at the highest level of the minors in 2019, when he hit .278/.321/.448 with 17 home runs in 493 plate appearances.
- Sticking with the Red Sox, ace Chris Sale has been on the mend from 2019 elbow problems and a recent bout of pneumonia, but he’s recovering well. Sale’s “progressing quickly and could begin to face live hitters soon,” Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes. However, it’s not clear whether Sale will be ready for the start of the season. The 30-year-old had a stunning amount of difficulty preventing runs in 2019, when his ERA ballooned from 2.11 the prior season to a career-worst 4.40, but most of his other numbers looked fine. Sale notched a 3.39 FIP/2.93 xFIP with 13.32 K/9 and 2.26 BB/9, suggesting he’s still a front-of-the-rotation talent.
- Indians closer Brad Hand turned in excellent overall production yet again in 2019, but his effectiveness waned to a worrisome degree from late June through the end of the season. That was thanks in part to injuries that limited him to 57 1/3 innings – his fewest in more than a half-decade. Hand dealt with left arm fatigue that kept him out of action for a large portion of September, and he ended the year with his worst average fastball velocity (92.9 mph, compared to 94.1 in 2018) since 2012. “For whatever reason this tired arm affected my arm slot and pitches,” Hand told Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com, adding, “This year I’ll probably take a few more steps and stay ahead of it.” Manager Terry Francona’s hopeful that Hand will build up his velocity slowly this spring, as opposed to maxing out before the season starts. This is the last guaranteed year on Hand’s contract, but if he continues to hold his own, it’s hard to believe the Indians (or, if they trade him, another team) won’t exercise his $10MM club option for 2021.
- Angels manager Joe Maddon will sit down with first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols nearer to the season to discuss his 2020 role, per Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. The 40-year-old future Hall of Famer appeared in 131 games last season, but it went down as the third straight campaign in which he logged below-replacement-level numbers. Pujols batted .244/.305/.430 with 23 homers and minus-0.2 fWAR over 545 plate appearances. The majority of his work came at first, though he may have to battle Tommy La Stella for reps at the position this season. And Pujols probably won’t get much time at DH because of the presence of Shohei Ohtani.
Latest On Chris Sale
Chris Sale’s 2019 season came to an end in August when he hit the shelf with left elbow inflammation. Fortunately, he was able to treat the injury with a PRP injection and rest. The Red Sox ace began a throwing program in December, and he told reporters today (including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe) his elbow is now fine. Tommy John surgery was never on the table, Sale said (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive).
More recently, though, the 30-year-old (31 in March) came down with a mild case of pneumonia, reports Christopher Smith of MassLive. Boston won’t ramp him up too hard during spring training, manager Ron Roenicke told Smith, preferring to cautiously monitor as he rebuilds strength. Roenicke acknowledged that conservative build-up leaves open the possibility Sale could miss Opening Day. Nevertheless, the left-hander expressed hope (via Cotillo) he will indeed be ready for the start of the season.
A return to form for Sale is critical if the Red Sox are to compete for a playoff spot. He posted only a 4.40 ERA in 2019, nearly a full run higher than his previous career-worst mark. Of course, Sale’s peripherals tell a different story. His 35.6% strikeout rate trailed only Gerrit Cole’s 39.9% mark (minimum 100 innings). Sale’s 6.1% walk rate, too, was much better than average. Even with an uptick in home runs to a career-worst 1.47/9, Sale’s 3.39 FIP was among the top 20 in the league.
He, Eduardo Rodríguez, and Nathan Eovaldi will lead a rotation with a fair bit of upside but ample uncertainty. A healthy, productive season from Sale is all the more important in the wake of the recent Mookie Betts/David Price trade.