Chris Sale Fractures Wrist, Will Miss Remainder Of Season
By Steve Adams | August 9, 2022 at 9:35am CDT
The Red Sox announced Tuesday that lefty Chris Sale suffered a fractured right wrist “during a bicycle accident on Saturday, August 6.” The injury required surgery that will end Sale’s 2022 season. He’s expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training.
It’s the latest setback in a mounting pile of injuries for Sale, who has made just 11 starts while playing under the five-year, $145MM contract extension he signed back in March 2019. (The contract began with the 2020 season despite being signed in 2019, as Sale was already under contract for the ’19 season.) Since putting pen to paper on that contract, Sale has missed time with elbow inflammation that eventually culminated in Tommy John surgery, plus a stress reaction in his rib cage and a fractured pinkie finger incurred on a comebacker earlier this summer. Overall, he’s pitched just 48 1/3 innings in the regular season through the contract’s first three years (plus another nine frames in the 2021 postseason).
A healthy Sale is, of course, one of the sport’s most dominant talents. From 2012-18, Sale made seven consecutive All-Star Games and never finished lower than sixth in American League Cy Young voting. Along the way, he pitched to a collective 2.91 ERA in 1388 innings, averaging 30 starts and 198 frames per regular season (plus another 25 postseason innings with Boston). Sale came on in relief and punched out Justin Turner, future teammate Enrique Hernandez and Manny Machado in order to close out Boston’s 2018 World Series victory over the Dodgers, capping off the franchise’s fourth championship since the “curse-breaking” 2004 season.
It’s been mostly downhill for Sale since, as he’s battled fluke injuries and taken some deserved flak for being caught on film destroying a clubhouse television after getting an early hook during a Triple-A rehab game earlier this summer. This latest injury will bring Sale’s 2022 campaign to a close after just 5 2/3 innings.
Sale will turn 34 next March, so it’s still plenty feasible that he can return to form and serve as a foundational piece for the Sox moving forward. He averaged 94.9 mph with his heater during this year’s tiny sample of 5 2/3 frames — right in line (actually slightly better than) his average fastball during that aforementioned seven-year run of dominance between Chicago and Boston.
Given the recent rash of injuries, the Sox surely won’t be banking on 30-plus starts out of Sale, but at the same time, his contract leaves them little choice but to hope for the best. With Nathan Eovaldi, Rich Hill and Michael Wacha all set to hit free agency at season’s end, Sale and righty Nick Pivetta are the only Sox starters who can be penciled into next year’s group. Lefty James Paxton could potentially be in that mix as well; his contract has a pair of $13MM club options for the 2023-24 seasons that must be exercised simultaneously at season’s end. The team almost certainly won’t be taking their end of the deal — Paxton has yet to pitch in 2022 — but Paxton also has a $4MM player option for next season in the event that those club options are declined. Suffice it to say, rotation stability will be a point of emphasis for chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom this winter.
Boston Red Sox Newsstand Chris Sale
5 hours ago
This man is doomed.
5 hours ago
He is looking a lot like a head case.
4 hours ago
Somebody should go into his locker and rip up his jersey.
2 hours ago
Lol imagine his reaction to those yellow and blue ones
4 hours ago
Rip up his jersey
3 hours ago
He looks like a guy who had a bike accident.
3 hours ago
Wrist, not head
3 hours ago
There must have been a sale on injuries because he checked out
4 hours ago
Put a fork in him. He’s done
4 hours ago
What a LOSER this guy is. Retire already you skinny punk.
3 hours ago
Only one type of person uses the word loser. You fit that demographic
3 hours ago
It would make sense for a nerd with Frodo in their name to dislike people that call other people losers since you’re probably a common target
2 hours ago
I’ve always found it interesting that there are people who are cool with those who hurl insults, but then can’t help but speak up against people who would dare call out those insults. The internet really can be a cesspool sometimes.
2 hours ago
On all of his many accounts
1 min ago
Well said redsoxu571, you nailed it. Unfortunately it’s the nature of the beast, i.e., “the media is the message”. And here we all are.
4 hours ago
I like Chris Sale as a pitcher. What I don’t like is all these injuries outside of baseball activities we always seem to hear about. If I get hurt outside of work I’ll be sitting at home not getting paid at all like most of the population.
4 hours ago
Benefits of a collective bargaining agreement, the players negotiated guaranteed contracts. Even the NFL gives out partial guarantees unless you are DeShaun Watson and Cleveland is on the hook for the whole $230 million. Watson’s contract is structured that his yearly salary is only 700k and his roster bonus is 40M. So guaranteed contracts are part of professional sports now.
2 hours ago
(1) Bobby Bonilla says hi. (2) Baseball is not the NFL!
2 hours ago
You don’t have sick time, short term disability and long term disability? You should. If its not offered through you job you can buy it through Aflac (among others)
4 hours ago
He needs to go find the Voodoo doll that somebody made of him. Is Brian Cashman actually creole? Because if he is, that’d be the first place I’d look. Holly molly, talk about snake bit.
4 hours ago
I think it’s called Kabbalah.
2 hours ago
I had to look that one up. Good one…
3 hours ago
At least it wasn’t his left wrist!
5 hours ago
Every season, poor guy
5 hours ago
Poor guy? He’s a professional athlete that has the frame of an anorexic ballerina. He also punches walls and TVs, so I’m not sure he deserves much sympathy. I am a lifelong Sox fan, too.
5 hours ago
Bro, don’t skinny shame.
5 hours ago
and ballerina shame
4 hours ago
Great point. Dude needs to “woke” up.
4 hours ago
Slender Man is going as Chris Sale for Halloween.
4 hours ago
@astick: Don’t PC-badger.
He’ll opine about what he wants to. You’ll deal with it.
4 hours ago
“Let people be horrible.”
4 hours ago
@animalize- And astick will make their comments and you’ll deal with it also. See how that works?
4 hours ago
@animalize: You say you dealt with it fine but you were very clearly triggered by the woke comments, and then when someone does the exact same thing you do, you resort to name calling. So it’s pretty clear here which one of you is the snowflake.
3 hours ago
The solution to people skinny shaming is to grow some balls and not care about people skinny shaming
2 hours ago
Or to recognize the obvious: that it was a joke. That’ll work too.
2 hours ago
Sorry, Dewayne Johnson. Can you send me some of your energy drinks?
2 hours ago
Thanks, dude.
2 hours ago
Or mute them and not deal with it. Not sure who @animalize was before, but I muted him under his old name.
4 hours ago
I liked Chris Sale in the Dire Straits, Money for Nothing video.
4 hours ago
Far from poor at least in a monetary sense. Another example of gotta love guaranteed contracts. Being injured a lot or poor performance after signing doesn’t stop the checks from coming in. In this case, at least it is one of the Goliaths that can outspend these setbacks (if/when they choose).
3 hours ago
Yes if only the billionaire owners had more protection against possibly not recouping a few millions. Especially after reaping the benefits of undervalued players for the first seven years of their careers.
3 hours ago
Sure…..because the true stars don’t still make a lot of money going thru arbitration when they play things out to free agency. This isn’t a simpleton binary thing.Truth lies in the middle. These often majority dead money contracts hurt competitive balance. They fast forward most clubs into some form of rebuild or retool. There should definitely be some price to play poker with minimum payroll for owners to participate (or don’t invest/cry poor), but that would likewise mean a hard cap like other pro sports. Example 150mil min and 225max. Large geographic locales still have unearned advantage to probably make playoffs most years, but disparity wouldn’t be as crazy as it continues to be.
2 hours ago
THIS ^^^^^^^ Thank you Mule for the logic.
4 hours ago
When did he punch a TV and wall? In the dugout?
4 hours ago
During rehab at the WooSox in Worcester, he apologized and paid for the damages…ya ask me that’s passion and he did replace everything. Weird question I have and I can’t believe I’m asking it of a professional athlete I wonder if he’s gone through a diet change? Three freak broken bones all within a year? I think he’s calcium deficient…..
4 hours ago
Being hit by a line drive in the hand and falling off a bicycle aren’t really freak injuries. Those are common ways to break a bone.
But also, smashing a TV isn’t passion; it’s psychopathy. Normal adults who are passionate don’t have temper tantrums.
3 hours ago
You do not understand what “freak injuries” are
5 hours ago
It just doesn’t stop
5 hours ago
When he arrives at Spring Training he’s probably going to step on a rake and give himself a concussion at this rate.
3 hours ago
Sideshow Chris Sale.
5 hours ago
The man continues to catch all the wrong breaks
5 hours ago
He caught a nice 20-30 million $$$$ break.
4 hours ago
He needs to take lessons from President Biden on how to fall off a bike and not get injured, LOL!
2 hours ago
More like the breaks catch him.
5 hours ago
WTF is wrong with this guy? Why is he riding a bicycle while rehabbing a hand injury as his team is circling the drain in the standings and has been a laughing stock in the field??
5 hours ago
He has a broken finger, I would argue riding a bike isnt exactly a high risk event. It was an accident.
5 hours ago
Everything is a high risk event with him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of his and loved the deal DD made with CWS. Winning it all in ‘18 was great and watching many of his regular season starts in `17 and most of ’18 were a lot of fun. It’s just SOOOO discouraging seeing all this stuff happening since the extension.
4 hours ago
I’m honestly wondering if he’s getting enough calcium. His life right now is one big osteoporosis commercial, if he sneezes he will crack those ribs again watch. It’s a shame I’m a fan and I love the competitiveness of the guy. He’s that dog every team needs….
4 hours ago
You reaaaaally want him to have some type of calcium deficiency lol
4 hours ago
Ya can’t be normally that goddamn brittle in your 30s, that’s bad news for every manual labor man in the world….3 separate cases of broken bones within a year….yeah it seems like calcium deficiency to me….It isn’t low testosterone we know that because he has temper issues but that too can make ya lose bone density
5 hours ago
I came to the comments looking for a dumb take like Steve’s. An athlete has to work out. If he can’t throw a ball from an injury biking is exactly the type of aerobic workout the team probably recommended for him to stay in shape.
4 hours ago
I’m sure they recommended a stationary bike. You know one where his broken finger is wrapped around a handle. Also one where it’s much harder to fall and get hurt, you call Steve’s take dumb but do you really think the team wanted him biking wherever he was biking? They invested all that money and he’s been hurt all year but you think they wanted him biking his neighborhood or mountains or wherever he was? Yeah okay buddy
4 hours ago
@Wowwwwww: Exactly!
Unless of course it’s a big insurance scam, with everyone on all sides in on it. Happens *ALL* the time in the dirty industry that is “risk management”.
2 hours ago
If he was riding the bike off road then its considered a high risk activity according to the UPC.
5 hours ago
Ok Chad
4 hours ago
Maybe he just needed to get away to clear his head. I would too if the Orioles were ahead of my team in the standings.
4 hours ago
Am I the only one not convinced it was a bike injury when he has punched walls, broken tvs in past, and we are just getting news of the “bike fall” three days later?
4 hours ago
Who cares at this point….3rd broken bone in less than a year is hard to do
3 hours ago
Rock Paper Scissors injuries for sure!
2 hours ago
Was it a stationary bike that he fell off of?
2 hours ago
Reminds me of the time when Jim Edmonds was “rehabbing” on a jet ski in Lake Havasu. Good times.
4 mins ago
Reminded me of Jeff Kent’s broken wrist from “washing his truck”:
https://tht.fangraphs.com/tht-live/10th-anniversary-jeff-kent-washes-his-truck/
5 hours ago
Jeez Guy can’t catch a break
5 hours ago
He would seem to catch them all. He must think breaks are Pokemon.
5 hours ago
Hey, Chris, next time you want to go for a ride with bad hands, try a Segway!
2 hours ago
Try a stationary bike in the gym.
5 hours ago
I just read that it was his right hand, so now he has a busted finger on his left hand and a broken wrist on his right, that’s terrible luck
3 hours ago
Or you didn’t pay your bookie?
1 hour ago
2 bad hands? I hope he has a bidet.
5 hours ago
I think since he’s signed for 2 more years and he can’t stay healthy (although these last 2 especially the wrist is just s*** luck), they should move him to the pen and make him an stopper in the mold of Andrew Miller can go multiple innings and can close. His stuff will also probably play up a bit more in the pen. I know that’s a boat load of money for a reliever but what have they got with him at this point I don’t think there’s much more to do with him to get any value.
5 hours ago
Maybe you don’t remember the last time a team tried to make him a closer. Good luck w that.
3 hours ago
He started as a closer with the White Sox and was quite good. Opponents hated to face him because he could throw every pitch in the upper 90’s. I was at a game when he hit 100 & maybe a 101.
4 hours ago
Worked so well with David Price. Always room for an expensive long man in the pen.
5 hours ago
He breaks more than a kit kat bar
5 hours ago
He was back throwing again too; this guy has no luck at all.
4 hours ago
Dorothy, your post reminds me of the Hee Haw song.
4 hours ago
Bhambrave…I could probably count on 1 hand the number of posters on this site that have seen HeeHaw or know what you are talking about..but I appreciate it – loved me some HeeHaw when it was on
3 hours ago
Raff- My favorite was Gunilla Hutton,followed closely by Misty Rowe.
2 hours ago
Guess there are more of us than you think judging from the responses. Oh wait, that is a handful.
4 hours ago
Gloom, despair and agony on me…
5 hours ago
did he at least beat joe biden in the race
5 hours ago
He has lost his motivation. That’s the biggest problem of it.
4 hours ago
I’m not an expert but it seems to me that injuries are the biggest problem.
3 hours ago
Fabulous avatar! Love it! Dogs are my favorite people.
3 hours ago
Dogs aren’t people.
2 hours ago
Yeah, they are.
1 hour ago
They’re the BEST people.
5 hours ago
I wonder what the insurance policy looks like for the club
5 hours ago
Gonna have to keep him in a bubble when he’s not pitching.
4 hours ago
Him and Anthony Rendon.
5 hours ago
You have to feel bad for the guy at this point. I mean, it’s a lost season at this point anyways, but you gotta hope this won’t affect him too much going forward (luckily it’s his no throwing hand/wrist).
5 hours ago
Patrick Corbin for Chris Sale. Which side says no?
Get the Cubs involved with Heyward and make it a 3 way deal.
4 hours ago
Red Sox.
4 hours ago
Corbin and Sale a overpaid injury-prone pitchers at this point. Neither team would benefit
2 hours ago
Corbin is massively overpaid but he is taking the ball every 5th day
5 hours ago
Same bike as Biden?
4 hours ago
Hilarious. He was riding a bike, while recovering from or having just recovered from the broken finger, after recovering from or while recovering from all the other injuries?
This is gonna go down as one of the worst contracts in the history of the game.
Watch him play one full season in 2024 to trigger that vesting option and then go right back to being injured… or maybe by that point he won’t feel he needs $20M and just kinda retire?
4 hours ago
So baseball is the only thing he’s good at and he sucks at everything else? Even my grandma rides a bicycle and has never been injured not to mention breaking a wrist!
4 hours ago
He needs to be a spokesman for All-State, alongside Mayhem.
4 hours ago
Rip up his jersey
4 hours ago
I remember learning to ride a bike and fell off it and tumbled down a steep, forested hill. Hit my head on a few rocks. Might have lost a bunch of brain cells but don’t remember breaking my wrist.
4 hours ago
Was on pace to be a HOFer but been injured every season in recent memory. Solid career. Speedy recovery to Sale.
4 hours ago
The Sox rotation is gonna be a train wreck next year.
4 hours ago
put a cast on it and send him out to pitch. it’s not his left wrist
4 hours ago
Didn’t sale already break his finger, already out 6 weeks
4 hours ago
Wasn’t gonna help the Sox anyway. They’re terrible.
4 hours ago
Must have been hanging out with Tatis.
4 hours ago
What a jerk. I hope his contract had a clause that the Sox can invoke to void the rest of his deal.
4 hours ago
Unreal! Unreal man. This defies logic.
4 hours ago
Sale was probably heading to Brandon Falls on his bicycle and broke his wrist.
4 hours ago
Chaim recently said he left his throwing program at Boston College (as Fenway was being used for concerts) on his bicycle to grab lunch and hit something while going down a hill
4 hours ago
So I ask, who’s contract is worse, Chris Davis, Jason Heyward or Chris Sale?
3 hours ago
Gonna say Chris Sale. Atleast the other 2 have been on or around the field. This guy almost seems to make it a point so he won’t have to go back.
4 hours ago
He needs to find that voodoo doll.
4 hours ago
I don’t know if I’d be riding a bike with a broken finger but hey I don’t mind seeing Boston go down.
3 hours ago
Ridiculous – what an absolute waste of $90M over the past 3 seasons. Injuries are part of sports, but he seems to get more than his fair share. And then an off-field mishap? He would do well to consider some good will back to the team and fans for this one.
3 hours ago
Chris Sale hearts getting hurt.
3 hours ago
Bum
3 hours ago
They need to bubble wrap this guy. Unbelievable
3 hours ago
This is shaping up to be David Price all over again. Will they attach him to Devers in a trade this offseason?
3 hours ago
Or the Red Sox can do a full season of “openers”. Bloom would love that. It’s so “Rays” like.
3 hours ago
I laugh at Chris Sale
3 hours ago
No, Chris Sale hurt? I don’t believe it
3 hours ago
No, Chris Sale hurt? I don’t believe this
3 hours ago
That contract extension is looking better and better each day.
3 hours ago
Sale is replacing that guy in the “Mayhem” commercials.
Better yet…. he is the spokesman for Life Alert new promo…. you don’t have to be a senior citizen for “I have fallen and I can’t get up!”
3 hours ago
And here I thought he was already out for the season. Maybe this will be applied to next season.
2 hours ago
Wow! Can they void his contract for non-baseball related activities that resulted in injury? If it was off road biking then it would qualify.
2 hours ago
Is there a person on this planet that actually believes it was a bike accident?
2 hours ago
fell off his stationary bike
2 hours ago
Sure – “bicycle accident.”
2 hours ago
Chris may have been riding at Brandon Falls. That place is treacherous.
2 hours ago
Hey, it could happen to anybody.
https://live.staticflickr.com/3775/14274570981_9d51e3a9cb.jpg
2 hours ago
OMG!! I was literally laughing out loud at that.
2 hours ago
My work here is done.
2 hours ago
I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Chris Sale does not opt out of his contract at the end of the season.
28 mins ago
That’s what I call a bold prediction.
2 hours ago
Seriously what a dope riding a bike with a broken hand WTF
1 hour ago
It’s incredibly unfortunate how all of these contracts are playing out so badly for the Red Sox. It’s clear that this team was built around Sale as well.
The real puzzling player on this roster (to me) is James Paxton. I thought he was out of baseball for awhile now. I know teams want rotation stability, however, Paxton seems to be the most consistently injured pitcher in the game over the past decade. How does he keep getting work? His agent deserves a raise.
38 mins ago
Man, don’t fall off a bicycle in this comment section and expect any sympathy. It amazes me though how many people are just ripping this guy apart without considering that it could have been a stationary bike, we don’t know. If it wasn’t, it could have just been a leisurely ride where something happened too. I just don’t get crushing the guy unless footage comes out where he’s flying off a 30′ ramp.
34 mins ago
Why is he riding a bike when he has a broken finger?
This is going to go down as one of the worst contracts in history. Absolute disaster.
9 mins ago
Brandon Falls, funny. At least he doesn’t have phony shin-splints
7 mins ago
Wow! You have got to be kidding me. What an unbelievable run of injuries for Sale.