Red Sox: Chris Sale has matured from his mistakes

Feb 13, 2017; Lee County, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (41) plays long toss during reporting day for pitchers and catchers at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2017; Lee County, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (41) plays long toss during reporting day for pitchers and catchers at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Red Sox newly acquired All-Star pitcher Chris Sale says he has learned from his mistakes and is ready to contend for a title.

With pitchers and catchers officially reporting, we have been able to listen to many players answering questions from the media. One of those players that everyone wants to hear from is left-handed pitcher Chris Sale.

Throughout the few months of Sale being on the Red Sox, there have been people talking about how Sale can be “nut job” in the locker room.

As most people know by now, when Sale was on the White Sox, he cut up everyone’s throwback jersey because he thought they were uncomfortable.

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Also, Sale called his former GM Ken Williams a liar during Adam LaRoche‘s situation where Williams asked LaRoche to cut the amount of time his son, Drake, was spending with the White Sox. This request later made LaRoche retire from baseball.

With all of the bad blood Sale had with the White Sox front office during his tenure in Chicago, he’s ready to turn over a new leaf.

Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy is in Fort Myers and was able to be with Sale when he talked about how excited he is to be in Boston.

“I’m a completely different person when I’m here and when I’m in between the painted lines,’’ Sale explained. “I can say that for sure. There’s definitely a switch that goes on.’’

Sale also talked about how he has matured from his mistakes.

“I have two sons now, a 6-year-old and a 2-month-old. And I tell them, ‘You’re going to make mistakes, but if you learn from your mistakes, that’s the key.’ Sale said. “Everybody here has made a mistake. If you learn from it, you become a better person. If you keep making the same mistakes, you’re kind of spinning your tires.’’

Chris Sale is a competitor. It’s that simple. He was in a bad situation with a bad team during his years in Chicago and now he is ready to contend for a championship.

Shaughnessy also talked to President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski where he expressed his excitement over having Sale play for his team.

“He’s a very talented individual, he’s got great makeup.” Dombrowksi said. “When I checked with the White Sox organization — we played them 19 times a year for a lot of years — I always heard great things about him as a teammate.”

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I am just as excited as anyone else to see Sale pitch this season and time will only tell with how he adapts to the atmosphere in Boston.