White Sox: Chris Sale to miss 3 weeks
Saturday was one of those days as a fan of the Chicago White Sox where time stopped for a few minutes when it was reported that left-handed ace Chris Sale has a “fracture on the lateral side of his right foot.”
The injury occurred in an accident at his home on Friday, as a release from the White Sox says he is expected to miss most likely three weeks.
The release issued by the White Sox also stated:
"“Sale, 25, underwent x-rays this morning at Banner Estrella Hospital in Glendale. He will undergo further tests once the swelling in his foot has subsided. At that point, his status for Opening Day will be better determined.”"
With that news, everyone … how are you feeling? We all know this isn’t a great way to start the spring season, and hopefully the prognosis is correct and Sale will miss just three weeks and be ready for Opening Day or at least the first month of the regular season.
If there is some type of positive to come out of this situation (got to be a “glass half full” person right now), it is the fact maybe Carlos Rodon and some other young pitchers on the roster can get some more spring opportunities.
In an article by Scott Merkin of WhiteSox.com, the longtime baseball writer wrote the following about that possible situation:
"“General manager Rick Hahn mentioned Rodon, Chris Beck, Scott Carroll, Brad Penny and Francelis Montas as candidates to step in during Sale’s absence.”"
Opening Day is on March 6 at 3:10 p.m. CT, when the White Sox will be on the road against the reigning American League champion Kansas City Royals. Sale has been the White Sox Opening Day starter the past two seasons.
As for Sale’s 2014 season, he was third in the AL Cy Young award voting, and he finished with a 12-4 record with a 2.17 ERA in 26 starts. Within those starts, the ace of the White Sox staff pitched 174.0 innings and was first overall in the AL in strikeouts per nine innings pitched with 10.76.
The aforementioned release by the White Sox also stated:
"“(Sale) ranked among the AL leaders in virtually every category, including ERA (2nd), WHIP (2nd, 0.97), opponents average (3rd, .205), winning percentage (4th, .750), strikeouts (6th) and complete games (T6th, 2).”"
Let’s all hope for a speedy, but more importantly full, recovery by Sale because he might be the most important player on the White Sox roster in terms of leading them to a postseason berth or something even grander for the team in 2015.
Next: AL Central shortstop rankings