Chris Sale is done for the rest of the 2019 season. The good news is that he doesn’t need Tommy John surgery but has been shut down nevertheless. After the Red Sox ended the 2018 season as champs, the 2019 season couldn’t have gone much worse. Dave Dombrowski deserves most of the blame for the Red Sox struggles. However, Chris Sale did not pitch like Chris Sale in 2019. The lanky lefty went 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA on the season.
Sale was very up front about his struggles. He called the 2019 season a ‘nightmare’:
“Everyone talks about last year being a dream season,” Sale said. “Personally, this has been kind of a nightmare season.”
I know it’s easy to pile on Sale. I get it. I’m not going to do that. Sale, for the most part, has been nothing short of brilliant with the Sox. I’m not going to let one down year cloud my judgment. Sale wasn’t great this year. It’s called baseball. David Ortiz had a bad year in Boston too. I’m serious. Look it up. Ortiz hit .238 in 2009 at the age of 33. I thought they were going to release him. Chris Sale is allowed to have a bad year. Especially one after the Sox just won the World Series and Sale recorded the final out striking out that scumbag, Manny Machado.
The Red Sox are on the hook for $145 million over the next 5 years. Sale has to pitch much better to live up to that contract. I’m truly not worried. Sale’s ERA in Boston over 3 years sits at 3.08 even after a down year. The sky is not falling. After a long postseason run, shutting Sale down for the year and giving him extra rest makes a hell of a lot of sense. This World Series hangover could have been avoided but it’s a real thing. Sale was just one of the guy that got hit with the bug.
