In yet another mishap in a seemingly endless string of them, Red Sox lefty Chris Sale broke his right wrist Saturday and underwent surgery Monday, ending any hope he had of pitching again this season.
Sale had just returned from a throwing session at Boston College Saturday, rehabbing from a broken finger suffered last month, when he was thrown from his bike and suffered a broken wrist.
The Red Sox were holding out hope that he might return from the broken finger by mid-September but this latest setback eliminates that possibility. Sale had missed the first four-plus months of the season after fracturing a rib during a throwing session in February. In the first inning of his second start back, Sale was struck in the lefty pinkie by a line drive at Yankee Stadium on July 17.
"You couldn't make this up. We need to dispatch some people to go find whoever has the Chris Sale voodoo doll and recover it,'' said Red Sox chief baseball officer Chain Bloom in a Zoom call with reporters. "It stinks. It's really unfortunate. We're relieved this wasn't worse. Obviously, it's a pretty rough spill and we're very glad this wasn't worse. It's been such a run of bad luck for him and obviously for us.''
Bloom said after completing his throwing session Saturday morning, Sale took his bike to go get lunch, and while traveling down a hill, hit something and fell off the bike.
"I learned about it that afternoon,'' said Bloom. "He reached out to Brad (Pearson, head athletic trainer). Brad got over there and attended to him. Fortunately, (the wrist) was the only thing requiring medical attention. He's pretty beat up, as you could imagine, flying off a bike. I know he was going down a hill but I don't know if anybody exactly knows what he hit. It wasn't any other person or vehicle involved. He hit something and was thrown off the bike, so he's pretty beat up. We did a full work-up to make sure everything else is OK and all those bumps and bruises are going to heal.
"But the wrist was broken badly enough that it needed surgery.''
Bloom said the Sox had been encouraged by Sale's progress from the broken finger and expected him to pitch in September.
"I think he was going to,'' said Bloom. "Actually, when Brad was calling me to tell me about the accident, he said, "You should have seen him throw at BC. He looked great.' Obviously, with the pinkie being involved, the changeup was going to the last thing coming into play, in terms of picking up a baseball and letting it go confidently. But he was looking good. We obviously had not gotten to the point of putting a timetable on it, but we felt pretty good that he was going to come back and pitch this season.''
Bloom said Sale "should be fine,'' once the wrist heals.
"I know we keep saying that and things keep happening. This is just an incredibly bizarre run of events,'' said Bloom.
But the Red Sox also acknowledge that the small workload he's had over a stretch of three seasons -- in which Sale has been limited to just 11 starts and 48.1 innings -- will have to be factored in.
"He should be full-go next spring, we obviously need to think through what that means as far planning out a full season with him not carrying very much of a workload the last three seasons,'' said Bloom. "But other than that, there's no reason not to expect him to be back and to be the Chris Sale that we know. You guys saw those five innings in St. Pete (in his first start since coming off the IL). He looked really good. I think in that outing, he looked better than he had at any point (in 2021).
"So we're really encouraged in that regard. Just obviously, this is a tough blow.''
Sale has two guaranteed years left on his deal worth $55 million, plus a vesting option for 2025.