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A candid Chris Sale explains why he doesn’t think Red Sox tenure was a success
"I only had one full healthy season there. I was there for seven years."
Chris Sale made an instant impact with the Red Sox after he was traded from the White Sox in a blockbuster deal in December 2016.
In his first season with Boston, he finished second in the AL Cy Young Award voting and ninth in AL MVP voting, going 17-8 with a 2.90 ERA and a whopping 308 strikeouts in 214.1 innings of work.
In 2018, he played a key role in Boston’s run to a World Series title — posting a 2.11 ERA over 27 starts. He secured the Red Sox’ fourth title in the last two decades by striking out Manny Machado with a filthy slider.
But despite his impressive start to his tenure in Boston, Sale acknowledged on “Foul Territory” Monday that he doesn’t view his entire seven-season run with the Red Sox as a complete success.
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A majority of Sale’s time with the Red Sox was marred by injury. After signing a five-year, $145 million extension with Boston, Sale only logged 298.1 innings from 2019-23.
He missed the entire 2020 season due to Tommy John surgery, while landing on the shelf several other times due to a myriad of freak accidents and other ailments.
In just his second start of the 2022 season, Sale fractured his pinky finger after getting struck by a line drive by Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks. Boston expected Sale to return later that season, but he was ruled out for the rest of the year just weeks later after fracturing his wrist during a bicycle accident.
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“In my mind, no, it was not (a success), because of a couple reasons,” Sale said Monday. “I only had one full healthy season there. I was there for seven years. I only pitched tip-to-tip one time, in 2017, and that was actually the best year of my career from like a stat standpoint. 2018 was probably close to, if not, the second-best year of my career. I missed some time, but had a great year, and we did end up winning the World Series.
“I didn’t do anything post-contract, which bothers me. If we would have won the World Series after I signed that contract, I’d have felt maybe a little bit better. But I got traded there, we won a World Series and they obviously made a big commitment to me and rewarded me for having two good years and bringing a championship to that city. ‘Hey, we’re going all in on you. We’ve done our end of the bargain. Here’s five years. Here’s a big contract. Now you get to go keep doing what you’re doing.’ Because they saw those two previous years and that’s what they thought they had signed up for five more years. And it wasn’t.
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“The best years of my baseball career were in Boston, but also the worst years of my career were in Boston. And if those worst years weren’t, just to be completely honest, so (expletive) expensive… It’s a kick, it’s a gut punch. It’s not a fun thing that I’ll be able to look back on and remember about my life and my career. But I learned a lot from it. I’d like to think you can take some good with bad and roll with the punches. It’s a mixed bag, but overall, I guess in short answer, if it was one word, I would say no.”
Sale was ultimately traded by Boston to the Atlanta Braves on Dec. 30, with the 34-year-old lefty signing a two-year, $38 million extension with Atlanta last week.
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