Chris Sale Makes Clear He Wants To Retire As Member Of Red Sox

Chris Sale has an opt-out in his contract with the Boston Red Sox following the 2022 season.

Don’t expect him to exercise it.

The Sox ace, who missed last season and will be out to begin the current campaign due to Tommy John surgery, is entering Year 2 of a five-year contract. He’ll be 32 when the season starts and 35 when his contract is up, so who knows if he’ll be ready to call it a career or keep going at that point.

Whatever the case may be, he has no plans to be anywhere other than Boston.

“One hundred percent,” Sale said Friday on WEEI, via WEEI.com. “I have nowhere else to go. I have nowhere else to be. This place is top-notch. They’re unbelievable. I like it here. I love it here. I feel comfortable here. They take care of me. They take care of my family. And we win. Check the books, man. Check the books. We win. That’s what we’re here to do and that’s what we do a lot of. I would like to get back to that.”

While Sale’s health hasn’t been great lately, the surgery should help get him on the right track, and many pitchers bounce back incredibly well from the procedure. If that’s the case for the southpaw, it’ll give the Sox a dominant arm at the top of the rotation for years to come — which obviously was the mindset when they signed him to that deal.

And, clearly, it doesn’t sound like buy-in will be an issue for Sale, even when he enters the twilight of his career.