Chris Sale has proven he can win in Boston and the injury concern is worth the risk. That’s why he should be resigned by the Boston Red Sox before the season.
The Boston Red Sox need to learn from their past mistakes. Not signing Jon Lester before the 2014 season is one of the biggest screw-ups of the John Henry and Tom Werner era.
Chris Sale has proven that he can win in Boston. Sure, he has some durability issues. But pitching is what wins you championships. The alternative to not signing Sale and risking losing him to free agency like Lester is a far worse scenario than signing him and dealing with injuries.
The injuries Sale has had have been manageable. Alex Cora seems to have a plan in place to prevent overusing any of his starters. He has waited to have his starters pitch in spring training games as a way to help keep them fresh later in the season. Even if Cora needs to pull him after 6 innings or 100 pitches to keep Sale from wearing down, so be it.
Let’s not forget what the Red Sox had to give up to get Sale. They traded Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech; at the time two of their top prospects. It was worth it because the Red Sox were getting one of the best pitchers in baseball and an amazing contract to go along with it. Sale made approximately $12 million a year for the last two years.
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In Sale’s 9 years in Major League Baseball, he’s never had an era over 3.50. He’s had over 200 strikeouts six out of the nine years. His WHIP has never been above a 1.14.
Those are some of his amazing numbers. When you take into account his attitude and personality, that completes the description of what an ideal ace starting pitcher is for a team looking to win championships on a regular basis.
Mike Dowling of Forbes.com recently wrote about how the Red Sox and Chris Sale are near a contract extension. Forbes isn’t known for breaking big baseball news so we should take this with a grain of salt. He mentions in his article the deal is probably in the range of $35 million a year for 7 years.
If that is what it takes to sign Chris Sale, DO IT! Immediately! Sean Penney breaks down how moving forward, Boston doesn’t have any really bad contracts. So get the ace of your franchise signed today to give some stability to your rotation. After this year the Red Sox can then address who of their young core players they need to resign.