Sale ready for his return
Sox ace says he’s feeling better than he has ‘in a long time’
FORT MYERS — Chris Sale, for the first time in a while, seems fully healthy. The elbow injury that cost him the final month and a half of last season is long healed, and he’s just about over the mild case of pneumonia he just had last week.
“My body is feeling good,” Sale said. “I feel better than I have in a long time, actually.”
That’s certainly welcome news for the Red Sox as their ace begins a five-year contract that kicks in this season, and who they desperately need to be healthy and productive after the departures of David Price and Rick Porcello.
Right now, it all comes down to that elbow.
It was Aug. 17 last season when Sale hit the injured list with inflammation in his left elbow. There was hope he would return if the Red Sox made the playoffs, but they didn’t and he didn’t. Instead, he watched helplessly from back home in Florida, the first time he can remember doing that.
Sale, in his first interview Sunday since going on the IL last season, said that surgery on his elbow was never on the table.
“I knew I was in good hands,” Sale said. “I knew I had gone to see the best doctor in the world for this. No one at any point was ever worried. I guess it was a major injury, but no one was ever stressed. At least in front of me. I went and saw James Andrews and he just looked at it like, ‘Yeah, man, you’re going to be all right. Throw some PRP in that thing, see you in a few weeks, and we’ll be good to go.’”
Sale, by all accounts, had a normal offseason as he recovered from the injury. He threw off a mound six or seven times and felt good until he suddenly got pneumonia recently, which he said caused him to lose about seven pounds. The illness set back the timetable of his spring training and is threatening his availability for Opening Day.
“I hope not,” Sale said. “Whatever’s best, that’s what we’re going to do. I trust these guys, I trust the process we have. Over the next couple of weeks we’re going to map out a throwing program. I’m getting off the mound (Monday), and then we’ll build up to live BPs from that.”
Sale said he learned a lot about himself with the extra time he had as he reflected on a forgettable 2019 season that included a career-worst 4.40 ERA before the injury.
But he said he feels like he started to figure some things out at the end of the season and hopes to carry that into a critical 2020 season.
“I feel good,” Sale said. “I feel confident that when this thing starts, I’m going to be ready for it, and I’ll be back to doing what’s expected of me. I have a certain expectation level when I step on the mound, and I’m going to get back to that.”
Bogaerts starts slow
Xander Bogaerts’ physical on Sunday revealed that he has a sore left ankle that will force him to start camp slower than expected. Positional player report to spring training on Monday.
“These next couple, three days, we’ll go easy on him,” said interim manager Ron Roenicke. “It’s nothing alarming but it is a little sore so we’ll back off on him a little bit.”
Bogaerts said he hurt the ankle while working out back home in Aruba.
“We’re trying to get it right so I can get back with the guys,” Bogaerts said.
Bogaerts on Betts
Bogaerts and Mookie Betts both came up through the Red Sox system together, so it was obviously tough on the shortstop when his longtime teammate, who he called a “brother,” was traded last week.
“It’s going to be hard,” Bogaerts said. “Obviously it came at such a late timing, so close to spring training so a lot of us didn’t know what was going to happen, if it was going to happen or not. … I wish him nothing but the best. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve had.”
Bogaerts didn’t deny that he would try to recruit Betts back to the Red Sox when he hits free agency next winter.
“Probably maybe in a year,” Bogaerts said. “We’ll see how that goes. We know what he means to us. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
“I hope it’s real big for him,” Bogaerts said of Betts’ impending contract. “He deserves it. That’s the route he chose to go and I wish him nothing but the best. I wish that he gets all that he wants, and even more.” …
Rafael Devers will arrive late to camp next week because he and his girlfriend just welcomed a baby girl back home in the Dominican Republic. Roenicke said that ideally, the third baseman would be able to fly here on Tuesday. Outfielder Cesar Puello will also be a late arrival due to visa issues. …
New outfielder Alex Verdugo, who was originally assigned No. 12, has changed his number to No. 99. Kevin Pillar is now No. 5.