Baseball

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale facing setback in recovery

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The Boston Red Sox has confirmed that left-handed pitcher Chris Sale’s fractured rib cage recovery is facing a setback that may render his return to the field a few weeks behind from June 6 as scheduled.

Ahead of the regular season, Sale was placed on the 60-day injury list after he received a right rib stress fracture in late February. Since then, the former White Sox has yet to make his return to Boston. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom refused to reveal the specific issue due to the player’s privacy concerns other than the fact that Sale’s medical setback was non-medical.

“He’s had a small personal medical issue. It’s not orthopedic. It’s not COVID-related—that paused his throwing for a while,” Bloom said to reporters ahead of Saturday’s game against White Sox. “And we want to respect the privacy of that. It’s not baseball-related. He should be back throwing in a matter of days. But it’s obviously slowing him down.”

Sale’s multiple series of injuries

Bloom explained that from the initial June 6 schedule, Sale could have made his return weeks after that.

“We haven’t mapped it out yet but I think roughly speaking, we were hoping to have him back around when he was eligible,” Bloom added. “I think we’re probably talking a few weeks beyond that.”

For both the seven-time All-Star and the Red Sox, this season is not the best on their resume. The opening day of MLB for Sale always went sideways. In February 2020, franchise manager Ron Roenicke announced that the left-handed batsman would not be ready for the opening day due to pneumonia.

Later in March, as the MLB season was delayed due to the pandemic, Boston also made another announcement regarding the player. This time, the player would undergo Tommy John surgery that marked the end of his 2020 season. Sale made it through the surgery and on June 28, ahead of the preseason training, Boston had him on the 45-day injury list instead of 60.

He continued to recover from his Tommy John surgery in 2021, but was placed on the 60-day injury list and reportedly had a “mild case” of COVID-19 in January. Multiple series of injuries and rehabilitations have affected his career performance throughout the year after signing with the franchise in 2019 to a five-year contract worth $145 million.

The Lakeland-born only played a total of nine games in 2021, with six home runs and .149. Without a doubt, his series of unfortunate events have limited him and the Red Sox.

Boston slumps this season

Boston lost 12 of their past 16 games. Bloom admitted the franchise lacked most in offense play.

“The record speaks for itself. We all thought, and still do, that that’s going to be a strength and we haven’t got there yet. It really has been up and down the lineup. There’s a lot of guys that aren’t performing as they expect, and we expect,” Bloom said.

“That’s real. We’ve dug ourselves a hole, no question. We haven’t played well. Panic’s not going to help. We have to play better. We’ve put ourselves in that situation. There’s a difference in urgency and panic. We have to show more urgency.”

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League East division. (wikipedia)

Chris Sale

Christopher Allen Sale is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball . He previously played in MLB for the Chicago White Sox, (wikipedia)

Harry James
Harry James' love for sports began in his high school basketball days. Sadly, an injury meant he couldn't further his NBA dreams, but the hooper's loss is our gain as he then found journalism.
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