WITH CHANGE OF SOX, SALE GETS FRESH START
Ace left- hander ecstatic to be with contender
FORT MYERS, FLA. Dave Dombrowski, president of the Boston Red Sox, has a confession to make.
Pure and simple, he never cared for the guy.
Sure, Dombrowski didn’t know him personally and had never talked to him, but he really didn’t need any interaction.
He saw Chris Sale pitch enough over the years with the Chicago White Sox that it made him queasy every time he saw him step on the mound.
“You basically disliked him,” Dombrowski told USA TODAY Sports. “He was not only so good, but so tough. He would throw pitches inside. You name it. He would do everything possible to win. I was never in love with him, but you couldn’t help but admire his competitiveness and ability.” So what’s a fella to do? Trade for him, of course, and instead of now being loathed, Sale is loved, not only by Dombrowski but also by New England.
“Now that I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve found out Chris is an extremely nice person,” Dombrowski says. “He’s tremendous. But when he’s on that mound, he’s still the same, so tough. The difference is that he’s on our side now.”
Sale, on the other hand, has a new best friend, saying he’ll forever be indebted to Dombrowski. He’s the one responsible for rescuing Sale from Chicago, putting him on the national stage, under the brightest of lights.
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, you kidding me?” says Sale, relaxed in front of his locker at JetBlue Stadium. “What more can you ask?”
Let’s see, JetBlue Park, the Red Sox’s spring training home, is 30 minutes from his home in Naples, Fla., where he lives with his wife and two young kids. It’s just down the street from Florida Gulf Coast University, where he attended college. He had nearly 30 players and their families tag along with him at the Eagles basketball game against Stetson last month,
where after the game he threw down a one- handed dunk while teammate Hanley Ramirez made a halfcourt shot and Joe Kelly made a full- court shot on his third try.
And, oh, yeah, he’s on a team that has won three World Series championships since 2004, has eight playoff berths in the last 14 years and is heavily favored to win the American League East again this year, even with lefty David Price opening the year on the disabled list with a strained elbow.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am,” Sale says. “This is everything I wanted. I’m going to an organization very rich in history and, even more recently, a very winning tradition. ...
“And I get to pitch at Fenway Park, one of the greatest wonders of the world. How can you beat this?”
This is no knock on Chicago, he says. He loved the place, living in the River North area, with a choice of steakhouses every night of the week, all within walking distance of his condo. He loved the energy and passion of Chicago fans, watching the way they responded after the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup title runs and, of course, the crosstown rival Cubs’ World Series title.
The only real problem with Chicago— well, except for those awkward throwback uniforms that led him to angrily cut up every one he could find last season — was the White Sox never won. Sure, they went for it every year, bringing in new players and signing free agents, but it never worked.
Here he was, one of the most spectacular pitchers in the game, finishing among the top six in the AL Cy Young Award voting for five years, ranking first in virtually every AL pitching category since 2012 and owning a staggering 4.78 career strikeout- to- walk rate, the best in the live- ball era.
Yet he was surrounded by mediocrity. The White Sox didn’t reach the playoffs during his stay. They had one winning season since his rookie season.
“I don’t think anyone should feel bad for me,” Sale says, “but the whole reason we play this game is to go to the playoffs, with a championship in mind. I spent my first seven years there without really sniffing the playoffs. That’s tough. I put so much emphasis on winning, and it never happened. It’s kind of like staying up all night, studying for a test, and getting a C. It sucks.
“I know we had a few winning seasons, but I don’t think you can truly have a successful season without going to the playoffs. I don’t care how many games you win, if you don’t go to the playoffs, you failed.
“So the way I looked at it, we failed every single year I was there.”
The White Sox, privately sharing the same sentiment, decided when the 2016 season concluded it was time to change direction. They weren’t winning by remodeling every year, so they decided to excavate the joint.
Sale says he had been hearing trade rumors since 2013, so he wasn’t convinced he’d be dealt. Did he want to be traded?
Sale paused and carefully chose his words.
“I just wanted to win, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what job you do, if you don’t have an opportunity to reach the highest level of your job, it’s frustrating. You’re kind of spinning your tires. I want to win.
“It’s a business, too, so if they trade you, you can’t take that stuff to heart. It happened. It’s on them.
“Look, I have a lot of love for a lot of people in Chicago. Some of my greatest memories will forever be there. It’s just that they came to a fork in the road. They went one way, and I went the other. No hard feelings. Everything’s good. I think this will work out well for everybody.”
The White Sox received three of the Red Sox’s top prospects for Sale, including prized Yoan Moncada, and the Red Sox got back perhaps the man who’ll lead them to the World Series. In the four opposing ballparks in the AL East, he has a 1.85 ERA. In 10 games against the New York Yankees, he’s 4- 1 with 1.17 ERA, the lowest ERA by any pitcher vs. the Yankees in history.
“I see in Chris Sale a lot of me,” Red Sox great and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez says. “A guy who’s a workaholic. A guy who has that determined look. The guy who has a heart for the game.
“I believe Chris Sale is someone that every time he pitches, I probably will sit down at home and watch on the big screen. I don’t know, but when I see him and talk to him, it’s like I’m seeing myself.”
When Martinez arrived in Boston for the 1998 season, he led the Red Sox to four playoff berths and their first World Series title in 86 years. Sale, who’s under contract for just $ 39.5 million over the next three years, aspires to carve his own niche.
“I’m coming to a team that has a very real expectation of winning a World Series,” Sale says, “and if you can’t get excited for that, you’re doing the wrong thing. I love competition. And I love competing in front of a packed house where the energy is always there. It just raises your intensity.
“You go to Fenway, and there’s a buzz in the stadium. You don’t hear the foul balls hitting the seats. It’s never quiet. Honestly, this is everything I’ve wanted. I can’t wait to be part of something special.”