Right or wrongly, we remember what we remember. And the Chris Sale legacy is complicated.
So we ask: how will you remember him?
Acquired by the Red Sox from the Chicago White Sox following the 2016 season in exchange for prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, Sale spent seven seasons in a Red Sox uniform. That’s as many as Pedro Martinez or Josh Beckett and nearly twice as many as Curt Schilling – and only two fewer than Jon Lester. Like all of those pitchers, Sale won a World Series. Yet the lasting memory of Sale is perhaps more complex than any other, his Red Sox career highlighted by both an omnipresence and extremely expensive absence.
Tonight, Sale faces the Red Sox for the first time since the club dealt him to the Atlanta Braves during the offseason for infielder Vaughn Grissom, who made his Red Sox debut last week. And early next month, Sale and the Braves will visit Fenway Park.
“The guy is special. I know people make jokes about him, the injuries and the bike and all that stuff, which I think is f—ing bull—- because this guy did everything possible to be on the field,” Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters over the weekend. “I can’t wait for him to get back to Fenway and get the ovation he deserves, because out of all the guys here that have been part of this since 2018 all the way until now, he went through the ups and downs and he took his punches. But nobody can take away that ring from ‘18.”
Cora is right, at least in part. The 2018 World Series championship endures.
Unfortunately, for the moment, so does at least part of Sale’s salary, which remains on the Red Sox payroll for a final season.
Was the contract Sale’s fault? Of course not. But people usually don’t remember it that way. Though Sale had already begun to break down when the Sox wrapped up the World Series at the end of the 2018 season, then-Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski re-signed Sale to a five-year, $145 million contract in the spring of 2019. (The deal would begin in 2020.) The decision was easy to question from the very start and almost immediately became a full-fledged disaster.
In 2019, Sale went 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA in 25 starts before an elbow injury ended his season. He and the Red Sox put off Tommy John surgery. Sale reported to spring training and then couldn’t pitch, ultimately going under the knife. He missed all of 2020 and much of 2021. In 2022, he broke a rib before the season began and pitched in just two games before being hit by a line drive that broke a finger on his pitching hand. Then he cracked up on his bike in Chestnut Hill and hurt his wrist, a human voodoo doll on wheels.
The final tally? In the final five years of his Red Sox career, Sale went 7-8 with a 4.16 ERA while earning roughly $115 million dollars. The Red Sox had to absorb $17 million of the remaining salary on his contract to send him to the Braves. (That is the sum they are paying this year.) Teammates spoke highly of Sale then and continue to do so now. Cora praised him as a clubhouse leader and remains indebted to the pitcher for the support Sale showed him during Cora’s one-year suspension for the Houston cheating scandal.
Now, tonight, Sale faces his former team for the first time amidst a promising start to his career in Atlanta. In six starts for the Braves, Sale is 4-1 with a 3.44 ERA. Atlanta extended Sale’s contract after the trade to put him under contract through 2025, by which point Atlanta hopes to have claimed a second (and third?) World Series championship since winning the title in 2021.
Overall during his Red Sox career, Sale went 46-30. In the postseason, he was 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA. Neither Moncada nor Kopech has ever fulfilled his promise and what initially felt like a franchise altering trade for both teams had only a (very) short-term impact for Boston.
And so, again, we ponder the Chris Sale legacy and ask the pertinent question:
How will you remember him?
Chris Sale photos
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates his team’s 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five to win the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Christian Vazquez #7 jumps into the arms of Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox to celebrate their 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five to win the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Christian Vazquez #7 jumps into the arms of Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox to celebrate their 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five to win the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates with the World Series trophy after his team’s 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 28: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates with the World Series trophy after his team’s 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MAY 01: Chris Sale #51 of the Atlanta Braves warms up in the bullpen before the game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on May 01, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MAY 01: Chris Sale #51 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the second inning Mariners at T-Mobile Park on May 01, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
