Chris Sale sailing along in Boston
No regrets at Fenway Park over deal
BOSTON — The White Sox seem to be surviving quite nicely without Chris Sale, the first casualty of the rebuild that most agreed had to happen.
They have the best ERA in the majors, an 11-9 record after sweeping the Royals and two prospects in Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech who should be prime-time players before too long.
But no one at Fenway Park has any regrets over the Red Sox’s decision to deal the future for the present. Sale is thriving in his new socks.
Heading into Thursday night’s start against the Yankees, Sale has a 0.91 ERA with 42 strikeouts in only 29 2/3 innings, dominating as he did in Chicago and making it all look easy. In records dating back to 1893, Sale’s 42 strikeouts are the thirdmost of any pitcher in his first four games with a club, following Pedro Martinez, who had 44 with the Red Sox in 1998, and Randy Johnson, who also had 44 in his first year with the Diamondbacks in 1999.
“He’s lights out, man,” second baseman Dustin Pedroia said Wednesday. “Every time he takes the ball he competes with great stuff. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s fun to play behind.
“There have been a couple of times when I’ve been kind of flat-footed because we didn’t get a ball out there. He’s striking everybody out. He has been unbelievable.”
Sale’s command has been on with his fastball, slider and changeup, making him almost unhittable at times.
“He’s firing strikes with everything,” fellow starter David Price said. “Whenever you can consistently do that with all your pitches, when you have the stuff he has, it makes the game look a lot easier than it really is. That’s what he has been doing.
“Hopefully he can continue ... (and) do some pretty special things.” No one is too surprised. Sale, after all, has been one of the game’s best pitchers since coming up with the White Sox in 2010, averaging 10.1 strikeouts per 9 innings with a 1.06 WHIP in 228 games in Chicago. He signed a team-friendly contract and never complained, even though the Sox got a new Porsche for the price of a 1971 Pinto.
Still, the White Sox decided Sale had to go to start the rebuild, so general manager Rick Hahn dealt him to the Red Sox and never looked back.
Joining Price and 2016 Cy Young winner Rick Porcello in the rotation with a killer lineup, the Red Sox quickly became favourites to get back to the World Series. Expectations have been muted a bit with Price on the disabled list with elbow soreness, but if he comes back strong the Red Sox could be unstoppable.
The Chicago media mostly left Sale alone and he has been low key here as well, staying out of sight in the clubhouse and avoiding attention.
“He stays away from the media,” Price said. “I don’t ever see the media asking him to do interviews or whatever.”
Everything tends to get magnified in Boston, whereas Sale’s twin controversies last year in Chicago — ripping team executive vice president Ken Williams for the Adam LaRoche fiasco and slicing up throwback jerseys — blew over quickly and didn’t affect his popularity.
Asked in spring training how he would react in Boston if the same incident happened, Sale joked: “I don’t think they have throwbacks here.”
If Sale continues to put up numbers like this, White Sox fans may be asking for years why management couldn’t build around him instead of dealing him in his prime. Price said he understood. ““They were never able to advance to where they wanted to get to. So they had to make a decision for the organization.
“Hopefully it works out for them, and us as well.”