Chris Sale

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.

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.

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.

Red Sox ace Chris Sale has been cleared to begin throwing again after a visit with Dr. James Andrews, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI Radio. The goal is for Sale to be a full go for Spring Training in a few short months. Sale’s latest visit to the physician comes as a follow-up to an August appointment in which Sale received a platelet-rich plasma injection.

The Red Sox had originally expected to have their star lefty re-evaluated six weeks after the fact, but their early departure from the playoff picture allowed them to play it slow when it became apparent that Sale wouldn’t be needed in October. So the prolonged timeline is not reflective of Sale’s progress; assistant GM Brian O’Halloran said that “the rehab has gone very well and Chris is exactly where we want him to be.”

Sale missed all of September and much of August after encountering problems with his throwing elbow, landing on the injured list after experiencing inflammation in the wake of an August 13 start.

Even when he was healthy, Sale wasn’t himself, finishing the season with a 4.40 ERA, the worst mark of his career. His peripheral numbers were more in line with his career norms, but that did little to mitigate concerns about diminished fastball velocity. Luckily, it seems that Sale’s early-season dip in velocity was unconnected to the elbow injury, which is believed to have surfaced in August.

Still, any unanswered questions will be magnified by Sale’s hefty price tag, with a five-year contract extension worth $145MM taking effect in 2020, when Sale will earn $30MM. He’ll earn similar salaries through his age-35 season. From a financial perspective, Sale’s injury concerns could hardly have come at a worse time, but it seems there’s hope that Sale’s 2019 injuries won’t linger into the offseason and beyond. He didn’t suffer any ligament damage, and today’s update should inspire some optimism that Sale will once again be a stalwart in the Boston rotation and return to the Cy Young form that he maintained for the better part of a decade.

Chris Sale’s visit with Dr. James Andrews on Monday didn’t reveal any ligament damage in the star left-hander’s throwing elbow, Sale told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) yesterday.  For now, Sale will continue to rest following a platelet-rich plasma injection shot, and he’ll be re-evaluated in six weeks.

While any visit to Dr. Andrews is usually considered as an ominous sign by fans and pundits (and as a harbinger of possible Tommy John surgery), Sale described his diagnosis as “not great news, but about as good as we could get.  We rest, I think maybe four to six weeks, get on a throwing program and get back to it.”

With the Red Sox sitting six games out of a wild card slot, postseason availability may be a moot point for the entire roster, though Sale in particular seems like a longshot for the playoff roster even if Boston does make a miracle run over the season’s final six weeks.  It was already known that the PRP shot’s six-week recovery period would cost Sale the remainder of the regular season, and Sox manager Alex Cora told media that it would “probably…be almost impossible” for Sale to be ready to contribute in October.

This will mark the second straight year that Sale has been limited by a late-season injury, as shoulder issues limited him to just 17 innings from July 28, 2018 until the end of the 2018 regular season.  It’s possible Sale could have pitched more if the Sox were in a pennant race rather than comfortably coasting to an AL East title, though even while cautiously deploying Sale during the playoff run, the lefty posted an uncharacteristically middling 4.11 ERA over 15 1/3 postseason innings.

All these injury questions loom large given that Sale’s five-year, $145MM extension with the team doesn’t begin until the start of the 2020 season.  Sale fully expects to be ready for the start of the next season, though between Sale, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi, the Red Sox have $79MM in 2020 salary committed to three starters with checkered health histories.

Sale has a career-worst 4.40 ERA over 147 1/3 innings, though that ERA has largely been boosted by a career-high 19.5% home run rate.  ERA predictors such as FIP (3.39), xFIP (2.94) and SIERA (3.00) paint a much more forgiving picture of the southpaw’s performance in 2019.  His 13.32 K/9 is still elite, and Sale’s .283 xwOBA is in the 81st percentile of all pitchers.  That said, Sale also has a 36% hard-hit ball rate, by far the highest of his career.