Chris Sale: Why I won’t be shredding uniforms with the Red Sox
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Chris Sale has seen the light. And the Red Sox’s world championship banners.
He’s changed for the better, he insisted, which means big trouble for the AL East.
After his first official workout with the Red Sox on Tuesday at Fenway South, Sale, the Green Monster acquisition of the offseason, pointed to those banners hanging to his right. He said his goal this season was to totally focus on the field, not be sidetracked by crazy issues like last year with the White Sox that included his taking scissors to throwback uniforms.
If that’s truly the case, expect the 6-foot-6, 180-pound Sale to cut up opposing hitters with his filthy fastball and slider. Sale finished 2016 at 17-10 with a 3.34 ERA and 233 strikeouts while pitching six complete games.
Imagine what the lanky lefty is going to do when he is totally focused on winning.
“We’ve got a lot of banners here,’’ Sale said as he pointed to 1918, 2004, 2007 and 2013 championship banners. “I’d like to add to that. You can feel what this team is about. The history, the feel that I’ve gotten coming here is very exciting.’’
Sale had several run-ins with the White Sox front office, but this is a much different situation, he said.
“I don’t know if I need more passion, maybe just a little more focus,’’ he said. “That’s my game plan for this year, kind of dial it in on the important things that are baseball related and just go with that. I’m very, very competitive and sometimes it gets the best of me. My goal this year is to just focus on baseball, anything else, put the blinders up.
“Nobody is perfect, you are going to make mistakes,’’ Sale said. “All I want to say on [the cut-up uniforms] is that you live and you learn. I have two sons now, a 6-year-old and a 2-month-old. I tell them you are going to make mistakes, but if you learn from your mistakes, that’s the key. If you learn from it, you become a better person.’’
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Look at the big picture. Make it to the postseason.
“The ultimate goal is winning the championship,’’ Sale said. “Anything that you can do to get there needs to be done, no questions asked.’’
The Red Sox were swept away by the Indians in a Division Series last year. With Sale the new ace in a rotation that includes Rick Porcello and David Price, the Red Sox have a much more dangerous look.
Sure, David Ortiz is gone, but the big lefty is here.
“I expect a lot of myself,’’ the 27-year-old Sale said. “I’ll be harder on myself than [the Boston fans] will be. My goal every game is to throw a complete game. All I want to do is win.
“I’ve never played October baseball,’’ said Sale, who pitched seven years for the White Sox, going 74-50 with a 3.00 ERA. “Mostly everybody in this clubhouse has. I’m just looking for the opportunity. They got there without me, I’m here to help them a little bit more.’’
When it was mentioned that Sale came across Tuesday as a “pleasant guy,’’ he smiled and said, “Thanks, I haven’t heard that in awhile. I’m a completely different person than when I’m in between the painted lines. There’s definitely a switch that goes on.’’
Playing in the AL East and facing teams like the Yankees is what it’s all about, Sale said.
“That’s part of the excitement factor,’’ he said. “This is a very tough division, it always has been. You’re playing on bigger stages and there is more expectation.
“You raise the intensity a little bit.’’
It’s certainly a different atmosphere in Boston than with the White Sox.
“I don’t think they have throwbacks here,’’ Sale joked.
Then he turned serious.
“It was something I learned from, moving forward, hopefully it’s made me a better person,” he said.
If all this has made him a better pitcher, too, look out, AL East.