The Boston Red Sox have been getting mostly reliable starting pitching this season, and they’ve done it without Chris Sale.
The expectation is that, at some point, that will change.
Sale still is rehabbing after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2020. After beginning the season with the Red Sox up in Boston, Sale now is headed back down to Ft. Myers, Fla., where he’ll continue his rehab program.
If all goes well, the hope is that at some point in the summer, he will be back on the mound.
And Alex Cora is expecting big things from Sale.
“Really good. Really good,” the Sox manager said Wednesday on WEEI. “I had a good conversation with him two days ago and the way he threw the ball his last flat-ground was very good. Very aggressive. He’s going down there to be around the family and keep working on his craft. This guy is going to help us in the long-run. He’s going to help us.”
Getting vintage Sale back would be a massive lift for the Red Sox. When healthy, he arguably is one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball, and his healthy presence would really launch the Sox rotation into the elite category.
But, patience is a virtue, they say, so it’s just a matter of waiting until the southpaw is good to go.
