McAdam: Red Sox need improvement from Chris Sale to go anywhere in second half

They can move the pieces around -- Nathan Eovaldi from the rotation to the bullpen; a revolving door of candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation -- and make all the deadline acquisitions they want, but as the All-Star break draws closer, one thing is abundantly clear for the Red Sox: unless and until Chris Sale snaps out of it, the rest of it won't matter.

No reliever obtained from outside will mean more. No role change will be as significant.

They need Sale to be Sale, or any dreams of a second-half revival and redemption in October will be made moot.

The rest, by comparison, is mere window dressing.

This Red Sox team was built around the starting rotation, remember? The Sox seemed intent on bucking the industry trend by going decidedly old school and relying on their core of veteran starters to routinely A) chew up innings and B) give them a chance to win on a nightly basis.

That was the plan, anyway.

The reality has been far different. Of the Big Five, only David Price has come close to fulfilling expectations. Eovaldi made just four starts before being sidelined with an elbow injury. Rick Porcello has been inconsistent and Eduardo Rodriguez has been his enigmatic self at times.

And Sale? He's been mostly disappointing. True, his 3-8 won-loss record isn't entirely representative of how he's pitched. He's pitched well enough at times to win another four or five decisions. As an example: he had back-to-back outings in which he threw a combined 15 innings, struck out 31, walked no one, gave up just six hits and three earned runs -- and got no-decisions both times.

"When he pitched well, we didn't hit,'' noted Alex Cora.

Fair enough.

But it's hard to absolve Sale fully, not when he's finishing his first half with an ERA of 4.04.

Sale did indeed have a stretch of 11 starts -- about a third of a starting pitcher's season -- in which he pitched to a 2.24 ERA. That was vintage Chris Sale.

But before that run of dominance and after, Sale has been highly ineffective, with an 8.80 ERA in his other seven starts.

The cause, everyone agrees, is fastball command. Sale is throwing his heater with sufficient velocity, but he's not able to locate it consistently. That explains his team-high 16 homers allowed, including three Wednesday night in a 6-3 loss to Toronto.

However, while the cause is plainly evident, the solution isn't so obvious. If it were, it would have been fixed by now.

"I've got to throw more strikes, better quality pitches ... I don't know,'' said a disconsolate Sale. "I haven't been good recently. I'm throwing the ball over the middle of the plate. You look at the pitches that they're hitting and doing major damage on, they're up out over (the plate). I haven't been myself and that's obviously frustrating.''

Sale is the anchor of the rotation, around which the other starters revolve. He's paid to continue winning streaks and end losing streaks, and for now, at least, he's doing neither.

He's not providing enough length to save the bullpen when he starts -- the way a true front-of-the-rotation starter is expected. He's not shutting down elite lineups; heck, of late, he's not even defeating mediocre lineups like the White Sox (last Wednesday) or the Jays.

If there's any consolation, Sale is fully healthy with no restriction. You can see that with radar gun registering 95-96 mph at times with his four-seamer, and you can see in the reaction of hitters who swing and miss with regularity.

But that clean bill of health, while reassuring, is also a double-edged sword.

"That's kind of the worst part about it,'' mused Sale. "There's nothing to look back on other than just being bad. Everything feels good. I just haven't been getting it done.''

Sale also fully understands his importance to the franchise. He knows that as he goes, so go the Red Sox.

"I'm supposed to be a big part of this team and a big part of this pitching staff,'' he said, "and I've probably been the biggest crutch. That's another pretty crappy part: I know who I am and who I was supposed to be for this team and I haven't been anything close. What am I, 3-8? That's absolutely embarrassing.

"On a team like this, they need me to be better and I haven't been there for him.''

This isn't about building arm strength anymore, or the natural hangover from last October. But as Sale alluded, this is something worse: a healthy Sale who isn't pitching well.

Cora noted that Sale will get a good long break now, with his next start scheduled for either the second or third game after the All-Star break. That's time to rest up and get a mental reset from an underwhelming first half

"He's our ace, he's our No. 1,'' insisted Cora. "We're going to stick with the process and pray to God that the results are going to be there. Right now, we're not getting results, but I know this guy is a horse, he's one of the best pitchers in the big leagues. Hopefully, the break is going to help him out and we get the Chris Sale that we're accustomed to.''

Or else.

Because, comparatively speaking, nothing else matters.