Chris Sale: The Best Move in Red Sox History This Decade

Sale shined in his Red Sox debut to say the least. He fanned seven batters while only walking one in seven innings of work. In the 12 inning walk-off win, Sale allowed only three hits in his no-decision. Red Sox Nation is thrilled to have the Chris Sale we all expected. With recent pitching woes, it will be nice to be able to be confident in a consistent performance when his spot comes up in the rotation. You can expect to see this consistently out of Sale as he battles Rick Porcello, last year’s Cy Young winner, for the #1 spot in the rotation. No doubt, Porcello earned his opening day start, but both are strong candidates for ace in the rotation. Porcello put in six scoreless innings before he lost his steam in the 7^th during opening day. Porcello is the Red Sox ace, but Sale isn’t going to make it easy for him to stay there.

The Red Sox acquired Sale in December of 2016, which might be the biggest move in recent history. The 6’ 6” lefty from Florida was the ace in Chicago and joins a Red Sox rotation in the #2 slot. What makes Sale so dominant? Most people see a tall, lanky, and awkward guy standing on the hill, but a batter sees a frisbee-throwing monster. Baseball players have always feared left-handed pitchers. Naturally, they are just harder to hit. Add his height, velocity, and movement to the equation: say goodnight. He pounds the zone with strikes and just when you think you’ve timed up the fastball he tosses a frisbee at you, the slider.

Courtesy of MLB.com

Sale embarrasses hitters and Red Sox Nation will enjoy watching Sale dominate other lineups. Add in Eduardo Rodriguez and David Price when they are both healthy and a dash of knuckleballing Steven Wright and the Red Sox rotation may be the most dynamic in the league. Two hard throwing lefties, a Cy Young winner, a contact pitcher, and a knuckleballer fill out the ideal rotation, but health becomes the issue. That has always been the issue for the Sox. All of last year and the start of this year has been plagued by injury. As of now, Pomeranz, Price, and Thornburg are all sitting on the disabled list. Price has been making progress, but it appears that Pomeranz may sneak into the last spot for Farrell until we get the David Price that we paid for.

Sox fans will be waiting all season for the injury bug to go away, but when that day comes, every ball club in the major leagues should be scared. Sale did not give up a single run in his first appearance. The Red Sox don’t need the same offense they had last season, but it would sure help to get runs earlier than the twelve inning. If Chris Sale can stay this hot, we can play small ball and score one run and then let Kimbrel come in and do his thing. Unfortunately, his thing requires allowing the tying run on base prior to getting the save. As long as Kimbrel closes out games and keeps the blown saves to a minimum, the only concern for pitching is the 7^th and 8^th innings. A healthy pitching staff will be the key to the Sox performing at full potential.

Written by Stefan Athas