On December 6, 2016, the Boston Red Sox made a trade they hoped would help lead them to being the next Major League Baseball dynasty. The Red Sox traded four players to the Chicago White Sox for ace pitcher Chris Sale. The Red Sox were looking to shore up their rotation and go from early postseason exits to championship contenders. In more than 5 years since that trade, the Red Sox have won another World Series and Chris Sale has signed a contract extension to stay in Boston. But he has also made several trips to the Injured List. Let’s look and see if Chris Sale has been a bonus or a bust for Boston.
GOOD
Since joining the Boston Red Sox, Chris Sale has winning percentage of .615. That’s .018 percentage points higher than his winning percentage in Chicago. His record is 40-25 in 95 starts. His ERA is 3.09 and he’s recorded 820 strikeouts compared to 127 walks. Only one of those walks was intentional. Sale’s first year with the team he pitched 214.1 innings tied for the second most in his career.
Chris Sale was part of the 2018 Boston Red Sox World Series winning team. He appeared in 5 games that postseason. He started three of them, only getting a decision in the American League Division Series, a victory over the New York Yankees. In 2017 and 2018, Sale received votes for both the Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player Award. There’s no question those first two years in Boston looked like this trade was going to work out mightily in the Red Sox favor. But since Boston won that World Series, things have taken a turn for the worse when it comes to Sale’s performances.
BAD
Prior to the start of the 2019 season, Sale signed a 5-year, $145 million dollar extension to stay in Boston. That’s also when we saw a decline in Sale’s performances. In 2019, he started 25 games and finished with a record of 6-11, by far his worst winning percentage up to that point. He also finished with an ERA of 4.40, nearly a full point higher than his highest previous ERA.
We all know 2020 is a weird year due to COVID and the restrictions placed on it. But Sale waited well into the delayed season to finally have Tommy John surgery. That caused him to miss the truncated season and the first half of 2021, as well. If Sale had gotten surgery sooner, maybe he would’ve been ready to go for the start of 2021, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.
Once he recovered from Tommy John Surgery, it looked like things were improving for the potential ace. Sale went 5-1 in 2021 with an ERA of 3.16. But things fell apart in the postseason. He made 3 starts in two series for the Red Sox. While he didn’t record a decision in the ALDS against Tampa, his ERA was 45.00. Against Houston, his ERA was much better, 3.38; but he lost his only decision, and the Red Sox came up short against the Astros.
That brings us to 2022. Sale is out for the season after a freak injury where he fell off his bike last month fracturing his wrist. He was out until July after fracturing a rib during a throwing session in the Spring. And, in just his second start of the season, he took a line drive off his pinkie finger breaking it. It’s been an injury-plagued year that has left Sale able to start only two games where he finished with a record of 0-1 and only 5.2 innings pitched. To call that disappointing would be an understatement.
VERDICT
Things looked great for the marriage between Chris Sale and the Boston Red Sox at first. He came in with two great seasons and the team cashed in its fourth World Series Championship of the Century. But, since signing an extension, the honeymoon phase has worn off. He posted the worst season of his career immediately after signing. Once the extension actually took effect in 2020, he delayed surgery. He missed half a season before falling apart in the postseason. He’s made 14 starts, 11 regular season and 3 postseason, over the past 3 years. He makes $8 million dollars a start. While he has time to turn it around, Chris Sale appears to be a bust for Boston.
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