McAdam: Additional opinion sought as Red Sox wait and see with Chris Sale

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The waiting continued Wednesday, with the Red Sox not releasing any more information about Chris Sale, who's ailing left elbow remains shrouded in mystery.

Sale, who complained of soreness in the elbow Monday, following a 15-pitch live batting practice session a day earlier, has had an MRI examined by both the Red Sox medical staff and Dr. James Andrews, is now waiting on another opinion from Los Angeles-based orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

"We want to make sure that we get everybody's opinion on this,'' said manager Ron Roenicke. "We need to get this right. He's a very important player and we want to do things the right way. Dr. Andrews did see it and read (the MRI). I don't want to comment on what he said until we find out from one more opinion on what they think. Once Chris gets all the information, he will let you guys know and we'll tell you more on his end, what he's thinking.

"Don't read into this that this is the worst-case scenario and that's why we're getting these opinions. We want to make sure we're right in what we do and get as many as we can get.''



Until more is known, meanwhile, the Red Sox find themselves in limbo, unsure if their top starting pitcher will see his season delayed or wiped out altogether by a more negative diagnosis.

"There's uncertainty,'' said Roenicke. "I think Chris, just talking to him, when you go through things for a while and he went through this last year, he knows this is obviously a setback for him. It's a disappointment for him. But he wants to get this thing right. We want to make sure we're doing it the right way. We're giving it whatever time period we need to do things right.''

While the seeking out of another opinion could signal the need for surgery, Roenicke, when speaking about the starting rotation in general, sketched out a more favorable result.

"If (Sale) comes back, obviously, we were hoping it was just going to be the 12 days we kind of thought (due to a case of the flu and pneumonia which was going to land Sale on the IL to start the season,'' said Roenicke. "Now, it's going to be more. So, we've got to cover a month now, instead of the two weeks at the beginning.''

Meanwhile, the Sox could use some reinforcements. A number of free agents remain unsigned, though some are recovering from physical issues of their own, including Collin McHugh and Aaron Sanchez.

"I think Chaim and his crew are always looking for depth,'' said Roenicke. "If they can find people, they're always looking. I don't think right now, that he's all of a sudden on the phone having to find something. We do have people in camp that we've talked about that can start for us or be the openers. We'll kind of continue through that until we find out exactly what's going on with Chris.''

Whether Sale is lost for a month or for the season, there would seem a greater likelihood of the Sox using an opener to cover at least one of two potential vacancies in the rotation.

"Right now, I really can't answer that,'' said Roenicke. "We haven't discussed it enough to know how we're going to do this. I think we're still hoping that one of these guys is going to wow us and we know that we can go with him as a starter every fifth day. I think that's what we're waiting for.''

It's also possible that the pool of potential starting candidates could expand with, say, Darwinzon Hernandez, currently ticketed for the bullpen, a possibility to be looked at for the rotation.

"We talked about it again a couple of days ago,'' said Roenicke. "I think that talk is going to continue on with him, especially the better he does at more innings. We'll probably keep talking about if he's two innings, then he goes to three and then we're like, 'Should we try this guy and see how he does starting?' Those conversations will happen through the year as we watch him more.''