DHL Dan CXCVI - Addition By Subtraction

Alternate headline - 'Chris Sale Traded Before Shank Runs Him Out Of Town':

End of Chris Sale Experience reason for Red Sox fans to pop cheap champagne

Picked up pieces while wondering if Taylor Swift is the Yoko Ono of the Chiefs . . .

In late September, Red Sox manager Alex Cora boldly named Chris Sale his Opening Day starter for 2024.

Guess not.

Craig Breslow traded Sale to Atlanta on Saturday for second base prospect Vaughn Grissom. Boston reportedly sent $17 million to Atlanta, which is on the hook for the remaining $10.5 million of the final year of Sale’s disastrous five-year contract.

Happy New Year, Sox fans. Boston’s Chris Sale Experience is officially over.

DHL Dan CLXIV - Haunted

Thre's always one player or manager on the Red Sox that's in Shank's doghouse - Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Nomar Garciaparra, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Grady Little, Manny Ramirez, Theo Epstein, Josh Beckett and John Lackey (the 'chicken & beer' guys), Bobby Valentine, Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and a host of others. This year's scapegoat is hard-luck pitcher Chris Sale, who has yet to pitch for the Sox this year. Why let a mere detail like that get in the way of a good rip job?

The Chris Sale contract continues to haunt the Red Sox, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for Reese McGuire to make a throw when an Oriole is stealing a base …

▪ At this moment, Chris Sale’s contract extension — inked in the sugar-high spring of 2019 when the Red Sox could have waited to measure his health — is the worst signing in Boston sports history.

It’s worse than deals given to Rusney Castillo or Pablo Sandoval. Worse than Carl Crawford or Matt Young. Way worse than David Price or Daisuke Matsuzaka. Worse than Vin Baker, Pervis Ellison, Antoine Walker, or even Rick Pitino. Worse than Kevin Stevens, Marty Lapointe, or Adalius Thomas.

Them's fighting words - there was never a worse signing than Rick Pitino, whose awful reign was the equivalent of burning the Celtics to its foundations, then salting the earth where the dying embers lay. I'm also deducting a style point for Shank not mentioning Curt Schilling's last contract.

Sale delivered in his first two seasons in Boston and got the final out of the 2018 World Series. This isn’t about that. This is about the non-yield since the Sox went out of their way to lock him up in that fateful spring.

This is also the eight time Shank's mentioned / complained about Sale's contract 'since that fateful spring', a pinata of Shank's which always delivers a few treats whenever he whacks it.

The Chris Sale Column

Shank sits down with Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale, where the conversation starts off with concerns about weight and durbility:

Chris Sale appears thinner than usual but doesn’t sound concerned about holding up

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Chris Sale looks too thin to dominate big league hitters for a full season.

I know, I know … Sale has always been a skinny guy. Ask those hitters who couldn’t see his 100-mile-per-hour heater. Ask them if he’s too thin. Come see us in July when Sale is 10-1 and starting the All-Star Game in Seattle.

Sale threw a bullpen session Wednesday at Fenway South, then spoke with the media on the first day of pitchers-and-catchers workouts. He had the high heat. He has the great positive attitude. He plans on being Alex Cora’s Opening Day starter at Fenway against the Orioles March 30.

But he looks even thinner than usual. Gandhi-like. And though I am neither a doctor nor nutritionist, Sale’s physique makes me wonder whether his hereditary frame — the skinny gene — makes things tougher as he attempts to once again be a stud starter for the Sox.

Read on for the details, and a bonus pop culture reference not from the 1970's:

(Chris Sale, 2010 - 2012) Three seasons, $90 million, and 48⅓ innings.

The whole thing reminds me of a line from “The Town” when Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner pose as cops and steal millions from a vault at Fenway Park.

“No one’s robbed the Sawx like that since Jack Clark!” one says to the other as they prepare to leave the park with their heist.

Shank The Scold, A Continuing Series

A cheap and easy way to criticize athletes and pro sports teams in 2022 - keep bringing up everyone's Covid vaccination status:

Red Sox deny allowing Chris Sale more time to rehab injury because he won’t get vaccinated

MILWAUKEE — Are the Red Sox accommodating Chris Sale — allowing their $145 million pitcher extra time for his rehab from a rib cage fracture — because Sale won’t get vaccinated and they know he won’t be available to pitch in Toronto when the Sox return there June 27?

I ran this theory past Chaim Bloom Saturday afternoon, and the Red Sox chief baseball officer answered, “No. That has nothing to do with it.”

Bloom opened the box to cynicism in a rare media availability on Saturday before the Sox took on the White Sox in the second game of their weekend series.

Among items Bloom discussed in the dugout was an announcement that Sale’s rehab progress has been delayed because of a personal medical issue, not rib- or arm-related (Bloom also said Sale does not have COVID-19).

This means Sale’s return will be pushed back a few more weeks. It also means he won’t be available until late June at the earliest.

Shank has no problem criticizing Chris Sale but now gets to add his vaccination status as another stick to beat him with. I think it's stupid because Shank will never, ever consider the logic of continuing with Covid vaccine mandates now that the pandemic phase is well and small in our rear view mirror.

Assigning Blame, A Continuing Series

Shank lays the Sox' ALCS Game 1 loss squarely on Alex Cora and Chris Sale:

Alex Cora took a chance by starting Chris Sale in Game 1, but the Sox manager’s luck finally ran out

HOUSTON — Alex Cora could do no wrong. Every move was the right move. Everything worked.

And then he went one step too far. He got cocky and greedy. He thought he could “steal” a game against the Houston Astros (odd phrasing given the history here, but it’s only a figure of speech). He thought he could get away with starting struggling Chris Sale instead of Nate Eovaldi in Game 1 of the ALCS. Cora knew his bullpen was rested and figured that if Sale could just get a few outs, the Sox pen could bring it on home.

It almost worked.

But it did not work. Sale staggered through 2 2/3innings (five hits, one walk, a hit batter, and a wild pitch), then handed a 3-1 lead over to Boston’s well-rested bullpen. It worked for a while, but there simply isn’t enough depth in Boston’s bullpen. Adam Ottavino, Josh Taylor, and Ryan Brasier preserved the lead through the middle innings, but then Tanner Houck and Hansel Robles gave up homers to Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa respectively and the Sox lost the lead. The dam burst in the eighth when Hirokazu Sawamura blew up and the Red Sox were 5-4 losers despite four hits (two more homers!) from Kiké Hernández — the Greatest Player in the History of Baseball.

'It didn't work' - in the sense Shank expects all starting pitchers to throw six innings of one-hit ball with eight strikeouts.

Expecting A Loss, Getting A Win

That's the basic summary of Shank's column on last night's game, a 14 - 6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays:

Chris Sale didn’t have it in Game 2, but the Red Sox showed they still have a lot of life left

It was the worst game of the year. A season-low. Everything we suspected about this team was coming true. They were just not that good, after all.

Then it was the best game of the year. And suddenly there is buoyancy. And life.

Red Sox. Just when you think you are out, they pull you back in.

Boston’s erstwhile ace Chris Sale was rocked for a grand slam and lasted only one inning Friday at the Tropicana Dome. On the heels of Thursday’s Game 1 skunking, the Sox trailed, 5-2, in Game 2 and looked like candidates for a three-game sweep and a Marathon Monday on the golf course.

But this is one of the more resilient Local Nines of our time, and the Sons of Alex Cora peppered the Trop’s outer limits with five homers, cracking 20 hits and riding the right arm of rookie Tanner Houck to a 14-6, series-squaring, ALDS victory over the heavily favored, 100-win Rays.

Nothing says 'big win' like Shank now straddling the fence!

Creating Doubt

With the Red Sox and Rays in the ALDS, Shank could have picked two things to write about - last night's loss or tonight's game featuring Red Sox ace Chris Sale He chose the latter:

Chris Sale, who gets the ball for ALDS Game 2, hasn’t faced a team like the Rays yet this season. Can he deliver?

There’ll be nowhere for Chris Sale to hide at the circus tent/Tropicana Dome Friday night. No more soft landings for Boston’s $30 million per year ace.

The Red Sox were spanked by the aggressive 100-win Rays, 5-0, in Game 1 of their ALDS series in St. Petersburg, Fla., Thursday. Losing the first game of a best-of-five brings extra pressure and Sale will be carrying that weight to the hill in Game 2.

Perfect. Boston has its big-moment guy for a virtual must-win game.

The Sox made things as easy as possible for Sale when he came back from Tommy John surgery in mid-August. While a COVID surge depleted the Sox clubhouse, Boston’s most famous anti-vaxxer started nine games — six of them against last-place teams, including three vs. the Orioles, who were trying to lose. Feasting on a diet of Tomato Cans, Sale compiled a 5-1 record with a 3.16 ERA.

He made only two starts against non-losers, both against the Rays. He was winless in those two games, giving up a whopping 16 hits and three walks in 9⅔ innings. That’s 19 baserunners in 9⅔ innings in his only games against a winning team.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Shank's rooting for a loss tonight, much like he did in the runup to the wild card playoff game on Tuesday against the Yankees.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Fall is when you bring your family out to apple orchards and pick some apples. In that spirit, Shank again reaches for low hanging fruit:

Why does NESN keep bragging about Chris Sale's dominance of the Orioles? He's 10-0 with a 1.92 vs. the team that loses 105 games per year. He makes $30 million per year. Did not pitch in two series (Sox0-6) vs. Yankees. Whee!

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) September 28, 2021

Apart from his three starts against the Orioles, and one each vs. bottom-feeder Twins, Rangers and Mets, Sale did start two games vs. Tampa Bay: 9.2 innings, 16 hits, three walks, seven runs (three earned).

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) September 28, 2021

If It's Tuesday...

...it's time once again for Shank to pile on the Red Sox (and pitcher Chris Sale in particular):

Chris Sale gets O's tonight for 3rd time. Sale's made 7 starts: two vs. O's, one vs Rangers, Twins, Mets. Sox are 5-0 in those, by aggregate 53-10. Sale faced Rays twice. Sox 1-1, aggregate 13-13. Sale did not pitch vs. Yanks, White Sox. Boston 1-8 in those.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) September 28, 2021

I wonder if Shank ran similar numbers on Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez? Actually, I don't - that would require too much work and likely not give Shank a cudgel with which to use to beat up on the Red Sox. You almost have to admire his selective use of statistics (i.e., Sale not pitching against the Yankees & White Sox, 1-8 record).

The Savior?

I suppose we should enjoy a rare positive Red Sox column from the Globe's eternal critic:

In a time of desperation, Red Sox turn their lonely eyes to Chris Sale, and he delivers

What's a lame song lyrical reference doing here?

It felt like the Red Sox were on the verge of mathematical elimination . . . even though they were still perched in a playoff spot.

It felt like a must win . . . even with 27 more to play and a one-game lead for the second wild-card spot.

All night long the Sox teetered on the edge of defeat. And more dismay. More scorn and discouragement.

But Chris Sale came to the emotional rescue and the reeling Red Sox finally beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2, in the Trop Dome on Wednesday night.

So, the season is not over. There is more baseball to be played.

But are there more lame song lyrics ahead?

There isn't, but I was half hoping for some justification for the Red Sox bringing Sale back slowly from his surgery two years ago. Shank doesn't mention it but he does mention the 2011 Sox (AKA 'Chicken-and-Beer').

Demanding Dan, A Continuing Series

Every now and then Shank writes the occasional and annoying type of column where he pounds his fists on the table and he wants answers, dammit!

The Red Sox owe us some answers on Chris Sale’s surgery

The Red Sox’ refusal to disclose anything about Chris Sale’s elective elbow surgery in the middle of a national medical-supply shortage is unacceptable.

New York Mets righthander Noah Syndergaard was scheduled for Tommy John surgery Thursday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Mets said that team doctor David Altchek would perform the surgery, even though the Florida governor has barred nonessential elective medical procedures in the state.

Doctors in Florida are empowered to determine what is essential, and a Mets official told the Wall Street Journal, "This condition fits within the essential surgery guidelines.''

I'm not disagreeing on wanting the answer, just the semi-imperious manner in which Shank is, um, asking for it.

A little further on:

It’s an unfortunate response while we are in the middle of a global pandemic, with surgical supplies limited and citizens sensitive to the notion of rich and powerful folks receiving preferential medical treatment.

This will work for Shank - he'll complain now, not knowing whether specialized doctors like renowned Tommy John surgeon Dr. James Andrews (who's in private practice) or whoever performed Sale's surgery are required by professional codes to abandon their practices, cancel what may or may not have been previously scheduled procedures in order to assist hospital staff elsewhere. Same goes for Dr. Altcheck, being an employee of the Mets. Maybe they volunteered to help other medical facilities, but I think these are important points to consider. Shank does not because that allows him to piously jump down the throat of the Red Sox. In the case Sale did not have surgery, he will use that to criticize the team and Sale for delaying the surgery and thus Sale's recovery. Either way, he'll also get to bitch more the longer the Sox string this out.

Diabolical trolling genius - Shank's at the top of his game, folks!

There's No Guessing Like Second Guessing

It's just Shank engaging in one of his favorite past times:

The Red Sox’ handling of the Chris Sale elbow situation could hardly have turned out worse.

Boston’s ace lefty needs Tommy John surgery. It appeared to some of us that he needed surgery last summer when he was shut down with elbow pain. But the Red Sox and Dr. James Andrews waited — a decision that appeared to be based on hope more than reality after the Sox signed Sale to a whopping contract extension before the 2019 season.

When Sale again felt pain at the beginning of this month, the Sox waited again after Andrews and at least two other experts viewed Sale’s MRI.

Making The Sale

I was anticipating Shank starting to bang out pro-forma player focused articles any moment now. Today's column, with Chris Sale as the player in question, is quite different:

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Chris Sale was 10 minutes into a half-hour press session when he got the first question regarding the sign-stealing cheating scandal that has poisoned Major League Baseball in this spring of 2020.

“Here it is . . . ,” Sale said with a grimace.

And there it was. Indeed.

Sale talked about all of it. He talked about getting lit up by the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the 2017 American League Division Series at Minute Maid Park. He talked about speaking with MLB investigators who are looking into possible rule-breaking by the 2018 world champion Red Sox. He talked about his relationship with former manager Alex Cora, who conspired to beat him in ‘17, then called on him to shut down the Dodgers in the final moments of ‘18. He talked about what he would tell his children about all of it when everything shakes out.

Preemptive Burial

With Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale now out of the starting lineup, Shank breaks out the backhoe on their season.

Chris Sale says he has been assured there is no tear in his elbow. No ligament damage. His elbow pain is merely inflammation. Everything will be reevaluated in four to six weeks.
So there’s no need for Tommy John surgery . . . at this time.


“We’ll get through this,’’ Sale said Tuesday afternoon in the Red Sox clubhouse. “It’s not the end of the world. Could be worse.
…
You say good news.

I say it’s potentially a disaster, having more to do with the future than the present.

The 2019 baseball season — a train wreck for Sale and the Red Sox — is over. There’s still north of 30 games to play and nothing’s official, but everyone knows there’s not going to be any postseason for the Red Sox and we are not going to see Sale in another game this year.

Swept Up

It seems the only time Shank bothers to write about a Red Sox / Yankees series is when he's complaining about it. A few days ago he bitched about the slow pace of the games, and naturally his next column came after a loss by the Red Sox.

Was a sweep too much to ask?

Red Sox fans are a greedy lot. That’s what happens when you win four championships over 15 seasons.

And Shank's done his level best to minimize and downplay every one of them.

And so sweep talk dominated the Boston baseball landscape in the hours leading up to Sunday night’s ESPN hardball festival.

The 2019 Sox — sluggish for so much of this season — pantsed the first-place Yankees over the first three games of this series. Boston won all three games, outscoring New York by a whopping 38-13. The Sox struck a ridiculous 33 extra-base hits over three days, winning games by hideous scores of 19-3, 10-5, and 9-5. Brutal beatings, every one.

And when the Red Sox failed to sweep the Yankees, Shank's all over it like a fly on shit. For those of you who dare to read the rest of the column, note the exquisite detail in which Shank goes to document the manner in which the Sox lost the game. You can just picture the perma-smirk he had while banging this column out.

The Chris Sale Conundrum

What would life be like without Shank shitting on one of the Red Sox pitchers?

Chris sale with THREE MORE STRIKEOUTS in the third. Oh, and he also gave up four hits, three runs and the lead.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) June 1, 2019

Update: this is now one win in 16 starts. https://t.co/i6vnTbMBkk

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) June 1, 2019

Thanks for the update, Shank!

Negative Tweets, By Dan Shaughnessy

Shank helpfully points out Chris Sale's recent won / loss record:

Chris Sale has been credited with one win in 15 starts since August 12, 2018.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) May 25, 2019

Just another case of selective statistics to make his 'case', whatever that's supposed to be.

The Chris Sale / Jon Lester Conundrum

Is there any pitching-related matter with the Boston Red Sox that Shank can't hang around the neck of the Jon Lester trade?

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Red Sox locked up Xander Bogaerts and Chris Sale in the last two weeks, committing $265 million of John Henry’s money to a couple of players that would have been free agents at the end of this season. It’s a serious commitment that should warm the heart of Red Sox Nation.

I am a fan of the Bogaerts extension, but not so sure about Sale, who was scheduled to pitch Tuesday night in Oakland.

Sale was hoping to stop the bleeding after the Sox lost four of their first five games, getting outscored, 41-24. Alex Cora’s five-man rotation surrendered 26 earned runs in 21 innings in those five games, yielding 11 home runs. Aggregate ERA: 11.14. It was a big bowl of yuck.

But I’m thinking bigger picture today (first time for everything! - ed), wondering if the contract extension to Sale was a sound baseball decision, or perhaps overcompensation for past sins. Did the Sox let their mistake on Jon Lester rush them into a mistake on Sale?

Seems like now is never too early for Shank to preemptively second guess and pile on, is it?

He Cannot Be Serious!

Ahhh, there's nothing like a baseball column from Shank after a huge Opening Day loss, is there (emphasis added)?

SEATTLE — What’s up with Chris Sale? Is that cranky left shoulder really OK?

I promise not to overreact. This is not 30 years ago when it was OK for the Boston Herald to declare “Wait ‘Til Next Year” when the Red Sox lost on Opening Day. The Sox dropped their opener in St. Pete last spring and it did not prevent them from winning 118 games and their fourth World Series of this century.

You know that part's bullshit - he'll say something like 'not gonna overreact', then proceeds to write a few paragraphs where he does just that.

But again, we must ask . . . what’s up with Chris Sale?

Less than a week after signing a five-year, $145 million contract extension, Sale submitted the worst start of his Red Sox career in a 12-4 Opening Day loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. In three innings on Thursday, Sale surrendered seven runs on six hits, two walks and one hit batsman. He gave up three homers, two to Mariner shortstop Tim Beckham. (Sale allowed only two homers in his final 83 regular-season innings last year.) Sale threw 30 fastballs and did not induce a single swing-and-miss. His average speed on 25 four-seamers was 92.3 miles per hour. Trailing, 7-2, after three, Sale did not come out for the fourth.

So here we have one game where Chris Sale pitched poorly and Shank practically makes a Federal case out of it. Isn't that the very definition of 'overreacting'?

Not to pile on (riiiight! - ed), but it has to be pointed out that this stinkbomb comes on the heels of an August-September-October in which Sale was treated like a Faberge Egg due to a sore shoulder. Sale pitched only 17 regular-season innings after July 27. In the postseason, he pitched 15.1 innings over 14 games. He has not pitched more than 5.1 innings in any game since July 27. He’s about to turn 30 and the Sox he will be paying him $30 million in each of the next three seasons.

After the beatdown, Sale and manager Alex Cora both insisted there is no physical issue with Sale.

From there, Shank laments the departure of Jon Lester (from nearly five years ago) and we also get a Woodstock reference. That leaves us a Larry Bird sighting and a few 'sons of Alex Cora' clichés away from a full-blown overreaction from Shank.

UPDATE AT 11:15 AM - Looks like we weren't far off the mark with this column, were we?

Everyone is already overreacting to Gane 1 of 162. Nothing like fake Sox drama in late March.

— Boston Radio Watch® (@bostonradio) March 29, 2019

The Obligatory Chris Sale Spring Training Column

Well, what do you know? Shank's back to writing about current Red Sox players!

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The last time we saw Chris Sale on a mound pitching to real live hitters, he was blowing a pitch past Manny Machado (on bended knee) to close out the World Series while millions watched on television and thousands of citizens of Red Sox Nation cheered from the upper deck on the first-base side of Dodger Stadium.

Monday morning was a little different, as Sale trotted out to the mound on back field No. 4 (Eddie Popowski Field) in front of a hundred pasty snowbirds, slovenly sportswriters, one NESN camera, and a good portion of the Red Sox baseball brass gathered behind the home plate screen.

Who knew Shank is a 'slovenly sportswriter'?