Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale has opted into the final two years of his contract, worth $55 million.
It was such a no-brainer decision that I bet you forgot he even had an opt-out clause.
Sale, 34 in March, is due $27.5 million each of the next two seasons.
In hindsight, the Red Sox should have never given Chris Sale that five-year, $145 million contract extension, which includes a vesting option for 2025 if he finishes in the top 10 in CY Young award voting and is not on the Injured List at the end of 2024. There were signs of trouble even before he signed the contract in March 2019.
Red Sox Had Warning Signs
Despite having a 2.11 ERA/209 ERA+/1.98 FIP, shoulder inflammation limited Chris Sale to 158 innings in 2018, then the fewest innings he’d pitched in his career.
Things have only gotten worse.
Chris Sale gave the Red Sox 147.1 innings of 4.40 ERA baseball in 2019 after signing the contract that March. Elbow inflammation ended his season in mid-August.
He has made 11 starts since then.
Chris Sale underwent Tommy John surgery in Spring Training of 2020 and had a few setbacks along the way, but eventually returned to the Red Sox rotation in August of 2021 (3.26 ERA, 52 strikeouts, 12 walks, 42.2 innings). He had a rocky postseason, to say the least.
With a typical offseason, it seemed like the tide would turn for him.
Not so fast. The universe had other plans.
Red Sox Getting Nothing From Chris Sale Since Contract Started
Sale experienced what can only be described as a freak injury, a stress fracture in his right rib cage, at a workout at his alma mater, Florida Gulf Coast University, during MLB’s lockout of its players. The injury delayed his 2022 debut to mid-season. A subsequent non-baseball-related injury delayed his rehab and pushed his season debut back even further than he anticipated.
The Red Sox’s lefty finally returned to the rotation on July 12, pitching five scoreless innings vs. the Rays. Six days later, in the last game before the All-Star break, a comebacker off the bat of Aaron Hicks broke Sale’s pinkie two innings into his start against the Yankees.
(The Red Sox seemed to deflate as a team after that.)
Sale could have returned yet again, but as fate would have it, he broke his wrist in a bicycle accident in mid-August. His 2022 season was over for good.
The Florida native has to be one of the world’s unluckiest people over the last three years. Besides Tommy John surgery, it’s been nothing but freak injuries that have nothing to do with his arm. There should be no reason to believe he won’t be in top form come spring training of 2023 (like he was in 2022).
All Chris Sale has to do the next two seasons to salvage his contract is pitch and be an average contributor to the Red Sox pitching staff.
It’s not a high bar.
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