Boston Red Sox: 5 biggest disappointments of 2019 MLB season
1. Chris Sale
The Boston Red Sox started the 2019 MLB season by locking up their best pitcher through the 2024 season with a $145 million contract extension.
Coming off a World Series champions, everything was looking great until Chris Sale got off to nightmare start. In going 1-7 to begin the season, Sale no longer looked like the dominant pitcher that earned him that new money. Not only did he struggle with velocity, he also struggled with command on the mound and keeping the ball in the ballpark.
In the first couple months of the season, the dominant lefty looked anything but and seemed both frustrated and baffled as to how to fix his struggles.
Eventually, he did get back to himself in late May, early June with multiple double-digit strikeout games and looked back to form before injury once again took its toll on the tall, lanky lefty.
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And then in August, he was shut down for the rest of the regular season due to inflammation in the elbow that initially looked like it would cost him the 2020 season if he required Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox were 6 ½ games out of the wild card spot at that point, but the concern was more about the future of the team’s ace rather than the team’s short-turn playoff hopes.
In all, it was a season Chris Sale would rather forget. In going 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA in just 25 games started, the Boston Red Sox ace hopes to redeem being the team’s biggest disappointment in 2019.