Craig Breslow on Chris Sale heading into 2024: ‘I don’t know why I wouldn’t sit here and say we expect a full healthy season’
The Red Sox are searching for starting pitching and they’re also pretty confident that Chris Sale will be a big part of their rotation plans next season.
Sale hasn’t made 25 starts or more in a single season since 2019. He’s seen some sort of injury in every season since 2017 and yet, new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow expects a healthy Sale for all of next season.
“I don’t know why we would say he shouldn’t, right?” said Breslow to reporters at the Winter Meetings in Nashville whether the lefty could make 25 or more starts. “He’s as healthy as he’s been (in a while) at this point. I think he has the benefits of a normal ramp-up and a normal offseason. I think he’s probably understanding and we’re understanding how to help him recover and take care of himself.
“I don’t know why I wouldn’t sit here and say we expect a full healthy season.”
The 35-year-old enters next season in the final year of his contract and coming off a 2023 season where he made 20 starts, tossed 102 2/3 innings after 48 1/3 frames the last three seasons.
“We feel really good about where he is right now,” said Breslow. “Speaking to the medical group, the performance group, this is the most optimistic they’ve been. And the value of a full, healthy, normal off-season is huge. He’s throwing off the mound. He feels good about his progress in the offseason. The reality is, when he’s on the mound, he’s a really good major league pitcher.
“We just have to get him on the mound every five days,” said Breslow.
Sale was strong to open last season, posting a 4-1 record with a 2.91 ERA. The southpaw missed two and a half months last year with left shoulder soreness. He did return to the mound and over his last nine outings posted a 3.91 ERA.
Over the last two months of the season, Sale’s velocity dipped to 90 mph on his heater, but his slider and changeup sill fooled hitters and he was able to induce swing-and-misses.
“As a pitcher evolves,” offered Breslow, “and the stuff starts to regress with age — which is inevitable — it’s up to the group to identify those ways to optimize his pitch usage, his intended locations. And maybe he’s deploying his repertoire a little bit differently. Fortunately, Chris has shown that he’s able to make the adjustments. And I would not want to downplay the pure stuff. It’s still an incredibly unique look with some unique characteristics and traits to his pitches.”
The last few seasons, the Chaim Bloom front office seemed to rely too much on Sale being healthy. Breslow seems to think Sale will be able to make a minimum of 25 starts, but until the lefty does that again, it’s a tall task for the oft-injured former ace.
Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique
For additional Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, MLB and NFL content follow Beyond the Monster on Twitter @BeyondtheMnstr.
