10 Odd couple of aces:
White Sox wise to heed ’12 plea to keep starting
They are lumped together as baseball’s most dominant duo; but how different are Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke?
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EARNING HIS WAY
But the White Sox were in last place in the AL Central with a 42-48 record entering the week and had fallen 13 games off the division-leading Kansas City Royals’ pace after losing three of four to the Royals at home last weekend at U.S. Cellular Field. The White Sox also were seven games back in the wild-card race.
It would seemingly make sense for the White Sox to at least consider fielding calls on Sale in advance of the July 31 non-waiver deadline. No one on their roster would fetch a higher return, especially in light of Sale having an affordable contract that keeps him under club control through 2019. muscle. He loves to throw, and he knows how to throw, too, which is the scary thing. He doesn’t just have good stuff; he knows where to put it and when to put it there.”
The one thing Sale hasn’t been able to do, though, is pitch the White Sox into the playoffs.
The White Sox entered this season with high hopes of getting there for the first time since 2008 after an offseason in which they made a big splash by acquiring Samardzija from the Oakland Athletics in a trade and signed closer David Robertson, left fielder Melky Cabrera, designated hitter Adam LaRoche and lefthanded reliever Zach Duke as free agents. White Sox right-hander Jeff Samardzija had long watched Sale from the opposing dugout when he played for the Chicago Cubs as the city’s two teams faced each other in interleague play. While Samardzija always had an appreciation for Sale’s talent, it has only deepened in their first season as teammates.
“The dude is a beast,” Samardzija said. “He’s built to pitch. If you look at him, he’s one solid
Sale has been selected to the All-Star Game in each of his four seasons as a starter and was the White Sox’s lone representative this year in Cincinnati. thought of taking Sale out of the rotation.
Sale went on to win 17 games that season and, overall, since successfully pleading his case, the 27-year-old has a 45-30 record with a 2.81 ERA in 98 starts while averaging 10.2 strikeouts, 7.4 hits allowed and 2.0 walks per nine innings.
This season, despite missing the exhibition season after suffering a broken right foot in a household accident early in spring training, he is 8-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 18 starts. Entering the week, he had an American League-leading 163 strikeouts in 1252⁄ innings
3 while giving up 101 hits and 24 walks.
The moment has been all but lost over the course of Chris Sale’s emergence as one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.
It was early in May 2012 when Ken Williams, then the Chicago White Sox general manager and now club president, became convinced that Sale’s future was as a relief pitcher.
Sale had made 79 relief appearances during his first two seasons in the major leagues in 2010 and 2011 before getting a chance to win a spot in the rotation during spring training.
But five starts into that 2012 season, Sale developed pain in his left elbow. The injury seemingly confirmed thoughts from both inside and outside the organization that the rail-thin 6-6, 180pound hard-throwing left-hander did not possess the strength or stamina to pitch every fifth day in the major leagues.
The White Sox decided to send Sale back to the bullpen. He chafed at the idea, and after one relief appearance he knocked on the door of Williams’ office and asked to plead his case.
“It wasn’t like I was some kind of superhero that knocked down the door and went in there pounding my chest,” Sale said at the All-Star Game. “I don’t want it to sound that way.”
Sale is rather reluctant to reflect on that meeting, mainly because he said it was not an ego-driven move.
“I just felt that I could be a starting pitcher in the major leagues,” Sale said. “I truly believed it, and I wanted the opportunity to continue.
“The last thing I’d ever want to do was let my teammates down, and I felt that’s what was happening when I got moved to the bullpen. I had made the team as a starting pitcher, and our guys were counting on me going out there and eating up innings. I felt like I let the team down and I wanted a chance to do the job I was supposed to be doing.”
There has never been another
Sale is scheduled to make $9.15 million next season and $12 million in 2017 under terms of the five-year, $32.5 million deal he signed before the 2013 season. The contract also contains team options for $12.5 million in 2018 and $13.5 million in 2009 with buyouts of $1 million for each season.
But Sale doesn’t like to entertain the thought of possibly being dealt.
Sale has been a career-long member of the White Sox organization. Chicago selected him in the first round of the 2010 draft with the 13th overall pick from Florida Gulf Coast University. He put the school, which is in Fort Myers, on the map before the basketball team made its improbable Dunk City run to the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
“I don’t think too much on that,” Sale said of being traded. “I don’t want to sound too confident, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. That’s just me. I would hate for it to happen, too.”
So too would a lot of other people in the clubhouse.
Samardzija thinks owner Jerry Reinsdorf should sign Sale, 26, to a 10-year contract extension. Pitching coach Don Cooper thinks the organization would be letting a potential Hall of Famer go if it traded Sale.
“He’s Secretariat,” Cooper told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s the Thoroughbred. If he continues on this path for three or four more years, you know where he’s at? Greatness.”
Of course, that path nearly took a detour a little more than three years ago. Like a potential trade, Sale doesn’t really like to think about what might have happened.
“Except for one year in college and my first two years in the major leagues, I’ve been a starting pitcher all my life,” said Sale, who grew up so baseball obsessed in Lakeland, Fla., that his father, Allen, built a pitcher’s mound in the family’s backyard. His dad also took his son to the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ inaugural game in 1998.
“I love being a starter. I don’t think there is anything more fun in baseball than being a starting pitcher.” Sale then paused and smiled. “Except playing center field. That would be fun.”
White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton doesn’t have to worry about his job security, though, because the chances of Sale moving to the outfield are as likely as being shifted back to the bullpen.