Absolutely. I've written way too much on this topic, but you have hit on the heart of the matter. The Braves saw potential in Sale, and the Sox saw an ongoing, hopeless disaster. The Sox also failed to see the real possibility that Giolito was due for TJ surgery (or the lesser version he finally went with).
It is still possible that Sale's elbow/shoulder/arm will go bad before his new contract, through 2026, ends. But I don't think so because he actually works on his fitness, plus the Braves have been spacing out his starts. He has yet to start/pitch 5 days after his previous start. He gets either six or seven days rest. However, in his 15 starts this season, he has also gone over 100 pitches in 7 of them. In June, he began with an awful start, 4 innings, 8 ER's--but then had three starts in which he went 7 innings in all 3, give up 2, 2, and 1 run. Against the Yankees he went 5 innings, 1 run, 95 pitches.
I was hopeful for Chris Sale, and still thought he could be good when healthy, but I'll admit I lost faith in his ability to stay healthy. He hadn't had a full clean bill of health in 4.5 years and was coming into his 35 season this year.
It's not too unreasonable to assume the guy who is 35 and hasn't really been healthy during his enitre 30's can't come back and pitch like he did in his 20's.
To date this year......he is proving us wrong.
What he is doing, isn't all too different than hypothetically Corey Kluber coming in during the 2023 season and pitching very well for us. Albeit he was 37 not 35 but some some food for thought.
I don't think anyone hated the Kluber signing. The real problem was that it was the only signing.
Sale had a 2.1 fWAR in 102 IP last year - not spectacular but about 50% better than average. And he struck out 11 per 9 innings. As far as still showing the signs of being able to pitch well, that's exactly what he did whenever he was healthy through these injury-plagued years.
Last edited by Bellhorn04; Yesterday at 07:18 AM.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Agreed, which in hindsight no one should have been surprised. The Kluber signing was a nice reasonable risk to take if building the back of your rotation, but the Sox seemingly were banking on him returning to Cy-Young form.
Living on a prayer hasn't worked the last 4 years.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Same, I always wanted the Sox to go out and get an ace and if Sale was healthy then BOOM you gotta playoff caliber 1-2 punch.
I also didn't hate the Giolito signing, it sucks that he got injured but I also assumed (foolishly in hindsight) the Sox were going to go out and sign another ACE.
The pitching has certianly been much better than anticipated this year but another ace at the top with Houck would be playoff worthy, assuming Houck doesn't slow down. Giving his innings that does make one wonder but one interesting fact is despite Tanners innings total he's doing it throwing less pitches. If you can get threw 7 innings throwing 10-15 pitches less, that's going to create a lot less stress on the arm.