Red Sox lefty Chris Sale spoke with reporters this week, acknowledging and even agreeing with some of the frustration felt by fans who suggested he could’ve had the surgery months ago (link via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo). However, like most players, Sale viewed surgery as an absolute last resort. “Some people call it wasting time. And hey, it is,” Sale conceded. “We wasted time because the end result is Tommy John. We could have done this six months ago. Having said that, I appreciate the process and I wouldn’t have been 100% go as I was this past time. We turned over every stone. We did every possible thing we could have to prevent this. And I’m okay with that.”
With Sale shelved, the Red Sox’ rotation is going to be a patchwork unit at best, should the season eventually be played out. He’s in the first season of a five-year, $145MM contract he inked with the Red Sox last spring — a deal for which he opted in lieu of testing free agency this past offseason. The 31-year-old southpaw will miss at least the first season of that deal and some of the second, but he’s hopeful that the surgery could allow him to “get 10 more great years” out of his elbow.
More on the Sox…
- Outfielder Kevin Pillar chatted with Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe about his revamped approach at the plate heading into the 2020 season. Long a pull-happy hitter, Pillar’s pull tendencies spiked to new heights in 2019, prompting him to refocus on taking the ball up the middle and hitting to all fields. The 31-year-old belted a career-high 21 homers last year — likely in part due to said spike in pull percentage and also due to the juiced ball — but he’s hopeful that more of all-fields approach will bring about a more well-rounded offensive game. Specifically, Pillar noted that going through the offseason and better “understanding how teams value players now” fueled his approach. Pillar, of course, was non-tendered by the Giants after racking up 21 homers, 37 doubles and four triples due in some part to his dismal .287 OBP. He eventually signed a one-year, $4.25MM deal with Boston late in the offseason.
- Infielder Jantzen Witte, in camp as a non-roster invitee with the Sox, is in many ways a microcosm of the challenges that minor league players face as a whole, writes WEEI’s Rob Bradford. A career-long minor leaguer, Witte had never earned more than $12,000 in a single season. However, he reached minor league free agency this winter and was slated to see his earnings increase considerably, even if he simply spent the year in Triple-A. Witte, though, impressed in camp and caught the eye of manager Ron Roenicke, creating the outside possibility of securing a bench spot with the club and at least putting him on the radar for a midseason call-up. Now, he’s collecting a $400 weekly stipend through the end of May — a rate that checks in under his previous $12,000 salary even when prorated for a whole season — with no clue what’ll happen thereafter (financially speaking). Bradford spoke with Witte about his efforts to remain in shape, the financial uncertainty he’s facing and the woodcarving side business he’s started up while awaiting clarity. The 30-year-old Witte hit .277/.339/.394 in Triple-A last year while playing third base, second base, first base and left field.
Dumbrowski is the best at signing pitching.
The best guy at signing pitching is whichever guy has the most money.
Complain all you want, Dombrowski brought another championship to Boston.
Bingo. Easy to knock him today but his resume speaks volumes. Who knows if FL could have won multiple titles if he wasn’t forced to strip the team down. His Tigers made it to the WS and was usually in the playoffs. His decisions at the end were impacted by his aging owner’s desire to win while he could share in it. I’ve constantly said recently that ownership has to take responsibility for the Sox expensive failures but of course that too is shared. Bottom line is the man has won wherever he’s been.
DD did what he was paid yo do n he delivered.
Pash- agreed. DD won a World Series with the Red Sox which is something Seattle, Tampa, San Diego, Milwaukee, Texas Rangers, and Colorado have never done…not even one.
The Red Sox should feel fortunate they have ownership that has supported them well enough to win 4 in the last 16 years.
At what price? A title is fine, but when it’s followed up with 3-5 sub- .500 seasons, I’d rather just be a competitor. Most Boston fans probably don’t want a late-90’s Marlins situation where you go from the top of the heap to the dumpster overnight.
The average team wins it all once every 30 years. I will take 1 championship in exchange for a few bad seasons.
BTW, in the last 22 years the Red sox have been under 500 3 times. A pretty amazingly good stat.
At what price? A World Series ring.
I will take 5 mediocre seasons every time for a ring in the 6th. Over time the average team plays 500 ball. We have been blessed as Red Sox fans to have a team that for over the past couple decades has performed wildly beyond the average.
Exactly. They weren’t far off when he took over and had a farm club to compete for a decade. Look at the total
Picture. Sale didn’t help them
All that much the year they won the title. Aside from sale, most of the farm system was traded for crappy relievers who didn’t pan out at all. Cherington or someone else could’ve won with that roster. They won off a combo of young talent emerging as stars and cora being the right manager at the right time to bring the chemistry together for that club.
You guys should start a series detailing what specific advanced metrics are, how they are calculated, and how they apply. Just an idea.
I second that idea @steveadams
I’ll pass on reading and would prefer articles on contrasting team budgets. Bottom line is winning and I’m curious as to whether paying for metric centric scouts has a real benefit compared to old school scouting. Baseball at its best is a team sport. Can the pitcher hold the runner so the catcher has an opportunity to throw him out? Can the guy with the pressure on in the eighth inning hit the ball to the right side to advance the winning run? Does the pitcher have stamina and guts to dig deep when he’s pitching on fumes or do his stats simply reflect a pretty picture that proves to be overpriced? Some things can’t be truly measured via saber stats and require a scout’s eye and instincts.
Who said anything about replacing scouting? You’re making your own argument out of nothing.
I was simply stressing in my view the over rating of saber stats. Their great for fantasy and computer games but there are too many intangibles to truly measure a player’s worth. This idea of measuring wins or determining payroll value based on certain stats is bizarre in a team sport.
Keep ripping. Good luck In Boston Kevin Pillar
agreed
Um, does anyone else think that having a woodcarving business as a sideline to being a baseball player is a bad idea? Think Bobby Ojeda.
Or worse yet, Roger Metzger!!
Metzger! Man, I forgot about him. Didn’t he lose the tips of two or three fingers and still try to play? When your forte is fielding (and throwing), losing parts of your fingers makes for quite a disadvantage.
Guess what? When you are 30 years old and you are making $12,000 per year playing baseball, then baseball is your side business. He should be making sure he doesn’t get hit by pitches. One broken hamate bone could ruin his woodcarving career. Then how is he going to feed himself?
With his other hand
Actually he is just starting up a “woodcarving” business and making his best impression this year? Coincidence? Or is “woodcarving” code for “corking”?
How’s he making 12k playing at triple a?
How’s he living making 12k a year at 30 years old?
Didn’t finish college and decided to play baseball rather than land a job based on his field of study?
Any other dumb questions?
The article said he was going to make a lot more than 12k this year. Most AAA players make a lot more than that, or got a big signing bonus.
That’s the thing with minor league baseball, a lot of these guys ( not White) get a bonus of 300k when they sign.
Hope is eternal for a 40 man roster spot, because the minimum MLB 40 man is around $550,000 which is more than a lot of CEOs, CFOs, corporate lawyers, …. make!
Many AAA guys make the 40 man you would never expect. Marcus Walden, Brasier, Josh Taylor…..
Four or five years on the 40 man is as much as many Americans make their entire working career…..the players just need to have good money management
Sale should have fully recovered by the time MLB starts its shortened indoor season in the fourth quarter of 2021.
It took Kevin Pillar until he was 31 to figure out its best to hit the ball to all fields?
Dont miss him in Toronto. Too many strikeouts, cant take a walk, and 100% pull hitter.
His biggest problem is his inability to lay off pitches out of the zone. His strike out rates are not atrocious, but he makes contact with a lot of marginal pitches leading to pop ups and weak contact
He goes on a hot streak early every season, then the media writes about his new approach, then pitchers adjust, and he doesn’t.
Same old, same old.
Pillar: In his 5 full seasons he walked a total of 121 times – yikes! Lifetime OBP of .296.
Witte had a great minors track record. i hope he gets a look eventually
I admittedly drink the Sox Koolaid, but I’m intrigued by our “potential” rotation: ERod, McHugh, Eovaldi, Perez, Hernandez
McHugh turns 33 yrs old in June. He last pitched on Aug. 30, 2019 and hasn’t pitched 75 innings in any single year since 2016. And he really hasn’t been decent since 2015. Intrigued by McHugh being in the Red Sox rotation isn’t quite the adjective I would use.
scout.com/baseball/mlb/news/buy-low-alert-collin-m…
Out of those 5 McHugh is the one you have the problem with?
Sale will turn 33 before he is able to play a full season of MLB (2022). He’ll be lucky if he gets 3 or 4 more years of decent to solid years of baseball before he calls it quits or should call it quits..
Kevin Pillar has no batting eye – at all. Love his glove as a fourth outfielder, but he & JBJ in the same batting order is unsustainable. And, no, their defence does not make up for the automatic 7-8 outs per game those two will generate at the plate. Sox are a mess. Atrocious pitching staff.
Hopefully Bradley and Pillar will be platooned for each other so it will only be 3-4 outs, and thankfully they are both only under contract for 2020 or the sliver of a season we get.
His highest walk total is 33 in 2017 and his highest on base percentage is .314 in 2015, not very good.
I remember posting here a while back and many goats here insulting me that I don’t know anything. I told everyone that he was reporting that his elbow was a minor injury when I said that his elbow was shot and he needs TJ but no it turned out where he was lying and he had severe damage and needed Tommy John just like I said four months ago.
Way to go!
Nearly all teams and players “lie” about injuries. It is not earth shattering news that he needed TJ surgery, but if many of the readers were in his position would they truthfully be any different. I am not saying I would or would not just that most players are not forthcoming about injuries and it has always been that way.
4w good post. You make a good point because I remember when in college I lied of my injuries fearing playing time and a back up taking my spot perminantly. In MLB players are probably concerned cuz it means cash. But thank you for your post jog my mind and you are correct, I agree
Don’t believe Pillar until you see it. And then still be skeptical.
Jays fans heard him say this the previous (at least) three years, but once the games start, he reverts to his old hack attack ways. In 2018, his plate discipline pledge worked longer than usual, lasting six weeks.! But Pillar did not learn from success and went back to his “shoelaces to eyebrow” swing zone. Here’s Pillar’s hot start and ice-cold finish from 2018:
OPENING DAY-MAY 17, 2018
44 G, 183 PA, 26 R, 18 doubles, nine BB, 31 K, .308 BA, .344 OBP, .509 SLG, .853 OPS, 0.615 WPA
The next day, May 18, Pillar went 0-4 with 3 K. From that day on:
MAY 18, 2018-END OF SEASON
98 G, 359 PA, 39 R, 22 doubles, nine BB, 67 K, .224 BA, .251 OBP, .385 SLG, .636 OPS, -0.987 WPA
The man is talented but dumb. He wants to do everything with heart and heroism. Sounds great for sports, but he will never lay off a pitch at his shoulders or even try to hit a cutoff man. At age 31, I hope he can change. But the numbers don’t lie. He dumb!