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Boston Red Sox: 3 regular season goals for Chris Sale in 2019

By Justin Keene

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 08: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox sits in the dugout in the eighth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park on June 08, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JUNE 08: Chris Sale #41 of the Boston Red Sox sits in the dugout in the eighth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park on June 08, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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Boston Red Sox Chris Sale (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
Boston Red Sox Chris Sale (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /

Coming off an injury ridden 2018 season, Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale looks to bounce back in 2019 and return to his ace status.

2018 was an interesting year for Boston Red Sox lefty Chris Sale. He missed almost the whole second half of the season with a concerning shoulder injury. Thankfully, he was able to come back ready for the postseason, making 3 starts and 2 relief appearances in route to a World Series title.

Sale is entering the title defense campaign, Sale is healthy and ready to return to form. The ace is also entering the final year of his current contract and is scheduled to make $15 million in 2019. The Red Sox have yet another big decision on their plate in regards to re-signing Sale.

Let’s take a look at a few goals for Chris Sale for this upcoming season.

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1.Stay healthy

Injuries have begun to catch up to Sale over the past couple of seasons. He spent 2 trips on the Disabled List post All Star break. Even in the playoffs, his status was questionable due to his injury. Now, ultimately, he pitched through it, but in doing so definitely took a toll on his arm.

The Red Sox are going to have to monitor their ace’s workload if they want him healthy at the end of the year. in 2018, Sale made 7 starts post all-star break as opposed to 20 in the first half. Most of those starts were a couple of innings, as he pitched 29 post all-star and 129 before. In the playoffs, Sale appeared in 5 games, making 3 starts. All his 3 starts were in Game 1 of each series (ALDS, ALCS, WS).

Chris Sale’s most note-able performance in the 2018 post season was when he came on for the 9th inning in Game 5 of the World Series where he clinched a championship for the Red Sox. He faced 3 batters, and struck them all out, ending the season on a nasty slider to Manny Machado.

If the Boston Red Sox are going to have a shot at being the first team to win back to back World Series titles since the Yankees in 1999-2000, Chris Sale is going to have to stay healthy. It will be very interesting to see how they manage him; I’m sure Alex Cora has a great plan.

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