Tomase: Inevitable Sale injury leaves Red Sox hurting without No. 1 starter originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Since the day Chris Sale arrived in spring training and declared himself ready to atone for three injury-ridden seasons, we could hear the clock ticking.
Sale was throwing free and easy, he said.
Tick, tick, tick.
He had rediscovered the joy of the game and was just thankful for every opportunity to take the hill, he said.
Tick, tick, tick.
He intended to earn the rest of his $145 million extension as the leader of the pitching staff the Red Sox deserved, he said.
Tick, tick. . .
Boom.
That audible detonation in the fourth inning at Fenway Park on Thursday night was the sound of the inevitable. Twice, manager Alex Cora visited Sale on the mound with a trainer before lifting him after just 59 pitches.
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While there were initially hopes that perhaps Sale was merely suffering from the effects of a recent illness, the team dispelled those false hopes with the sad reality we have expected all along.
Left shoulder soreness, MRI on Friday. Can’t say we didn’t see this coming.
Building a team around the idea of Sale lasting a full season as a No. 1 starter was always fanciful, but the Red Sox didn’t have much choice. Sale is locked in for $27.5 million this year and next, and good luck finding a taker for a pitcher at that price who had only made 11 starts in the previous three years. Their best and only option was to hope against hope that Sale somehow stayed healthy.
We always knew how that particular piece of fiction would end, with Sale trudging off the mound, and Cora sounding subdued in the postgame because he’s expecting the worst.
“Hoping for the best,” Cora said. “Obviously, it didn’t look great.”
And so the Red Sox must now prepare for life without their best starter. Even if the MRI reveals minimal damage, Sale’s probably still out for at least a month, because that’s how injuries work with him. If the scenario proves worst-case, there’s a reason Chaim Bloom built a roster featuring at least one too many starters. He had to assume this day would come.
Losing Sale is a massive blow. It’s a testament to his natural dominance that even with diminished stuff, he’s still striking out nearly 11 batters per nine innings. He had recently caught fire, too. He’s 4-0 in his last six starts with a 2.25 ERA, a performance that measures up to any No. 1 starter in the game.
Now there’s a gaping hole at the top of the rotation as the Red Sox seek a stopper. Veteran James Paxton has pitched well in three of his four starts, but the clock is ticking on his arm, too. Youngster Brayan Bello probably possesses the best pure stuff among starters, but he’s a work in progress and remains inconsistent. The decisions to leave Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock in the rotation now appear especially sound.
After Sale departed on Thursday, the Red Sox held on to beat the Reds, but we have officially reached the even-the-wins-feel-like-losses portion of the season. At 29-27, the Red Sox find themselves not only last in the American League East, but just a half game out of 10th in the American League. That puts them dangerously close to the bottom third of the league, and those generally aren’t teams with designs on playing in October.
Speaking of which, betting on Sale to carry the Red Sox deep into the playoffs was never going to be a winner, and everyone from fans to the media and, I’d suspect, the front office knew it.
Now we just have confirmation. That clock was always ticking to zero.