The Red Sox deal for Chris Sale will pay dividends for the postseason in the coming years
BOSTON – Chris Sale has been with the Boston Red Sox for only two years, but his acquisition must be one of the best deals in the history of the franchise.
Maybe it's not Heathcliff Slocumb's heist for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek in 1997. And it's not the acquisition of future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez of the Montreal Expos. Or the agreement to recover Curt Schilling from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Or the exchange that discarded Nomar Garciaparra in a four-way agreement that got Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz.
But Sale's deal is climbing the charts in Beantown. He has been absolutely everything the Red Sox imagined when they sent the prized prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, along with Luis Alexander Basabe and Víctor Díaz, to the White Sox of Chicago. It could be said that Sale is the best left-handed pitcher in the game, while Moncada struck out 217 times with a batting line of .235 / .315 / .400 and Kopech underwent Tommy John surgery and is out until 2020.
"There's only one Chris Sale in the game right now," Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland said. "He's leaving his mark as a Hall of Fame pitcher. We're not here without him."
The astute agreement of the Red Sox general manager, Dave Dombrowski, is Lesson 1-A, by which GMs must stop being so afraid of exchanging prospects for proven stars. You want to win, go for the pleasure.
"Everyone has to decide what they want to do," Dombrowski told USA TODAY Sports, "but for us, when I have a chance to win, do it." Sometimes, it is painful. You can not do both. You can not protect all your prospects and also exchange for good.
"You will not get Chris Sale unless it hurts a bit, everyone has to make their own decisions, but for us, it made sense, and he has been tremendous for us."
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Without selling, the Red Sox are not sitting with 111 victories and counting as they head to the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros on Saturday night (8:07 p.m. ET, TBS).
And really, the Astros are not the defending champions of the World Series and are the favorites to repeat without Justin Verlander, whom Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow took last August after Verlander eliminated the exemptions in an inexplicable way , without any equipment, but the Astros willing to exchange prospects while they assumed their salary. .
Now, these two perennial All-Star pitchers face off again, a repeat of a year ago, when they launched Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
"As a starting pitcher, you love those battles," says Verlander, who will head to the Hall of Fame when his career ends. "He's a fierce competitor, I've always liked to see him pitch."
Well, it's easy for Verlander to say he's never had to hit him. When the Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez was in Detroit, with his team facing Sale 19 times a year at Central Alabama, he almost made a party when he heard that Sale was traded to the Red Sox.
"I remember," Martinez said, "we used to have, I felt like I was in a one-day game in Chicago, one of those twilight and half-shadow games in Chicago, and we always got Chris Sale for that game.
"I was, like, friend, this is like a horror movie, this is terrible, I definitely felt relieved when they exchanged it."
And now that they're teammates in Boston, well, Sale is the Astros' problem now.
"He has weapons beyond human nature," said Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "We have our hands full, he's one of the best pitchers in the league, and it's not by accident.
"Its size, the angle of its throws, you just do not see it. The spin of his breaking ball is ridiculous. He has a certain tenacity for him. He has fearlessness.
"He knows it's good."
The story continues below the video.
Sale, a shoo-in for the AL Cy Young Award until he was offside for all but 17 innings in the last two months of the regular season with a swollen shoulder, is healthy again. He led the Red Sox to a win in Game 1 at ALDS against the New York Yankees, and his relief appearance in Game 4 helped send them home. Now he feels as strong as ever.
"Oh, he's ready," said Game 2 starter David Price. "In dealing with the injuries he has had in the last two months, I know it was difficult for him, it is likely to put a lot of stress on a lot of people.
"But seeing him recover against the Yankees, that was very important to him, great for us, and now there should be no question about his health in the future." There are no worries now. "
The sale is not only healthy, it also has a chip the size of Texas on his shoulder, remembering how the Astros hit him in Game 1 last season. He allowed nine hits and seven earned runs in just five innings in that 8-2 loss, and for 377 days, he's been waiting for this moment.
"That left a bitter taste in my mouth all year," said Sale. "I've been waiting a long time to get rid of him."
This is his chance, knowing that he is the key to the Red Sox's hopes of defeating the defending champions and returning to the World Series for the first time since 2013.
"We know who we're up against, but we were a team with 108 wins for a reason," said Sale, who was 12-4 with a 2.11 ERA, throwing only 158 innings. "It's not about doing more in these situations where the lights are brighter, the crowds are stronger, we do not need more, we just need the same.
"We are here to win, and we have to do whatever it takes to get there."
Start with Sale, the gift that keeps giving, without an end in sight.
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