McAdam: Chris Sale determined to recover from Tommy John surgery

Chris Sale, naturally, wasn't hoping to undergo Tommy John surgery. He knows the rehab road ahead is a long and lonely one.

But in a sense, Sale is relieved that after months of uncertainty, he finally has some clarity to his situation.

"I'm actually really happy with where I'm at right now,'' said Sale in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "I've been chasing a ghost for seven months right now. And to have a definitive answer and have a finish line. ... Everyone's like, 'Oh, this sucks, sorry to hear about the news...' But for me, this is the first hard answer I've had in a long time and at the end of the day, I know what I'm getting. I know what's at the end of this road.

"I've had doubts, I've had questions, for over half a year now. And now, obviously, this sucks. I'm putting my team in a tough situation and I'm relying on guys to pick up my slack, which is not my style, not my attitude, it's not what I want. But moving forward, I now know that I can get after this rehab. It's going to be nine to 14 months of just getting after it and being able to get my body back in shape. And I'm going to have a better elbow than I did before. That gives me confidence going forward.''



Sale was sidelined last August with elbow soreness, but on the advice of several doctors, chose to rehab throughout the winter. It's been suggested that he would have been better off having the procedure done last September, and thus, getting a seven-month head start on the process.

But the truth is, Sale wasn't ready to acquiesce then.

"You can always look back. Hindsight is always 20-20,'' he said. "But for me, I sleep easier knowing that we did everything we could (to avoid the surgery). Some people call it wasting time. And hey, it is, we wasted time with this because the end result is Tommy John and we could have done this six months ago.

"But having said, I appreciate the process and I wouldn't have been 100 percent go as I was this past time because we turned over every stone. We did everything possible thing we could have to prevent this. And I'm OK with that. I didn't want to jump the gun and get the surgery just because it was available. I wanted to make sure that this was something that needed to be done.''

Sale was disconsolate last month when he felt pain in his elbow after his first live batting practice on March 1.

"I truly thought I was in the clear,'' he said. "You guys saw me throwing bullpens, saw me playing long toss. I mean, I was ripping this thing. I was getting after it. I had all in the confidence in the world, coming into spring training, that my arm was going to be as good if not better than it had been my entire career. That's why I was kind of down and a little bit angry.

"I had gone through three months of throwing with absolutely zero setbacks, zero bumps in the road. It was a punch to the gut. Everything was trending upward, everything was looking good. Then I wake up one morning and can't move.''

Sale said he finished his last live batting practice session symptom-free, with no discomfort whatsoever. But within a few hours, he felt tightness in his forearm and elbow area. Later that night, he began losing range of motion in his left arm and grew more concerned.

The next day, he alerted the training staff of the issue and the process began anew.

Now, with the game shuttered for the foreseeable future, he begins the long, arduous process.

''There's never a good time for this to happen,'' he said. "But if there ever was, this is probably as good as you can get with everything going on in the season. It makes me feel not as bad, missing starts and having other people pick up my starts. So for me, I'm just going to focus on this rehab and do the best possible job I can do a better job when I come back.''

The pitcher is also aware of the fact that he underwent a procedure that some might consider elective at a time when medical resources are being stretched thin by the coronavirus and said every effort was made not to impact the care of others.

"Going through this,'' said Sale, ''there were a lot of things we had to do to make sure this way right. Dr. (Neal) ElAttrache and his staff -- I think it was Cedar-Sinai and UCLA -- they were on a daily conference call with people, making sure what we were doing would have zero effect on anyone else dealing with this virus. This was No. 1 until we got under the knife - making sure this was A) going to be possible to do and B) wouldn't take away the slightest bit of anything having to deal with this.

"At the end of the day, the virus is much more important than fixing my bum elbow. ElAttrache made that point many, many times to me, that we had to do this the right way. I even got tested for the virus once I got out there. Obviously, it came back negative. That was a big deal for us, to make sure it was the right thing at the right time and it wouldn't affect anyone else that was suffering.''