SPRINGFIELD -- Chris Sale understands the narrative. He knows that he contributed just 5.2 innings last season after a succession of injuries (rib, pinky finger, wrist) conspired against him. He knows, too, that he's pitched just 48.1 innings over the last three seasons.
But for Sale, a month before the start of spring training, it's all systems go.
"Humpty Dumpty got put back together,'' said a smiling Sale at the Red Sox' Winter Weekend at Mass Mutual Center. "I'm right where I need to be....don't say it too loud.''
Asked if he feels like he got all the bad luck out of his system last year, Sale said: "I sure hope so, man. You catch yourself kind of looking over your (shoulder) and you catch yourself in a situation where you're just waiting for the next bad thing to happen. That's not clean living, right there. It was unfortunate. But I feel like I've gained a tremendous amount of perspective from all of this. I've had a rough -- really rough -- past few years, but if you look throughout the entire world, and what happened in my own backyard a couple of months ago (with Hurricane Ian), things could be much, much worse.
"So with all that being said, I'm very excited going forward. It's the first spring training I've been able to be excited about in a while. I'm just very appreciative of that and I'm going to try to just hold on tight to that and roll with it.''
Sale joked that while he'll turn 34 at the end of March, his arm -- thanks to all the time missed the last three seasons -- "is technically 30. That's three years of 185 innings not on my arm, that's not going on the odometer.''
Sale began playing catch in November and has already started throwing off a mound, ahead of schedule. He's thrown all of his pitches without incident.
"I've got a good thing going,'' he said, "Just don't say it too loud.''
Sale fully anticipates being ready for the start of the 2023 season.
"That's the plan, man,'' he said. "It's been a rough few years. But I feel like I'm a full go.''
And Sale won't be content to just make his starts and stay healthy. He wants to be the dominant starter who, between 2012-2018 averaged almost 30 starts per season and went 99-59 with a 2.91 ERA.
"Circumstances have changed; my expectations have not,'' he said. "My expectations don't waver. I'm not going to lower them for any reason. I have full confidence in myself. I have to -- I'm a professional athlete. If I don't, I can just walk out that door right now and we can stop this now. I'm hard on myself and I demand a lot from myself and I have very high expectations and I guess that goes well with this fan base. But I don't see myself being anything less than what I've always been.
"Being dominant (again), that's my plan. I know arm strength is going to be something I have to work really hard at just because I haven't thrown a lot. I have full confidence in myself this season. I'm more motivated for my teammates, for my coaching staff, for the organization, for the fans. I owe these people something. I owe my teammates the starting pitcher they thought they going to get. I owe the front office the starting pitcher they paid for. And I owe the fans performances they're paying to come and see. Those expectations never left; I just ran into some really bad luck, and what can you do?''
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With Xander Bogaerts gone to San Diego and Trevor Story out for the first half of the season, at minimum, it looks for now as though Kiké Hernandez will open the season as the team's starting shortstop, and Hernandez couldn't be happier.
"I feel great about it,'' said Hernandez. "I've kind of been waiting my whole life to play shortstop at the major league level on a daily basis. I grew up playing the position, it's my favorite position to play. Unfortunately, the rosters I've been on (with the Dodgers and Red Sox), the best player on the team (Corey Seager in LA and Bogaerts here) has been the shortstop. I've been fortunate enough to (be able to) play other places.
"It's funny - I signed with this team (originally) to play second base, ended up playing center. Now, I sign an extension to play center and I end up playing short. I'm really excited and looking forward to the challenge and it's going to be a fun season.''
Hernandez has started just 64 games at short in the big leagues, but believes it will be an easier position to play full-time.
"Honestly, I think it's easier on the body to play on the infield than to play in center field,'' he said. "That's one of the things that stood out to me in '21, when I first started going out (to the outfield) every day. I had a lot more respect for outfielders then. Even the jog back and forth to the dugout between innings was taking a toll. I'm better suited for the infield just because I like to play the game fast and the game's a lot faster in the infield. I like to be involved in the game and there's a lot more I can do in the game as far as communicating with my teammates. The game's faster and I get bored in the outfield.''
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Trevor Story, his arm in a sling from recent elbow surgery, insists he will play in 2023.
Story underwent major surgery on his right elbow last month, and the Red Sox say they can't count on him returning this season. Story, however, has other ideas.
"Yeah, oh yeah, in my mind, yeah,'' said Story. "It's too early for a timetable, We're 11 days out of surgery. A lot of it will depend on how we're progressing through this whole rehab process.. But I feel good about how we're going to attack this, and with our team of therapists, I know we're going to do the best job we can. We're going to do it the right way, though. We're not going to cut any corners.''
Story said as he ramped up his throwing program last month, he experienced a "tingly feeling,'' in the elbow, causing him to shut his throwing down.
"It ended up being a situation where surgery was a possibility and that's the route we went,'' he said. "It's obviously not ideal or something you ever want to happen, especially in the offseason. But this is where we're at and we're going to attack it the best way we can. I was surprised because I was feeling good, feeling really good at the time. As I played through the season last year, as the season went on, my arm got stronger and I felt good about it. I didn't miss any time because of the elbow and obviously, I felt like I was gaining ground in the offseason and now this happens and here we are.''
Story, who played second base last year with Xander Bogaerts occupying short, hopes to return to his natural position when he's fully healthy.
"I've always seen myself as (a shortstop) and I still know I can do that,'' he said. "Whatever happens as we get closer to it, we'll make that decision then. But in my mind, yeah, I'm getting ready (for shortstop).''
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Alex Cora said Rafael Devers will be expected to provide more leadership, but at 26, Devers said it's taking some time to think of himself in the role of leader.
"They want me to be a leader and I get it,'' said Devers. "But I still feel like I'm really young to be that leader. We have a lot of veteran players on our team and you have to give them their respect as well. The leadership title makes me feel a little old.''
Devers, who has hit second the majority of the time in recent seasons, is unsure where he'll hit now that Bogaerts, the team's No. 3 hitter, is gone.
"I don't really care where they put me in the lineup,'' said Devers. "I know that Xander is gone (from the No. 3 hole) and that space is to be determined, but we have a lot of good hitters that we just picked up -- (Justin) Turner and others -- so we have a good battery of players already.''
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Tanner Houck, who underwent back surgery last fall, reported that he's fully recovered. "I don't have the pain shooting down my leg,'' said Houck. "After the surgery, it went away, right then and there. So it's mainly just waiting for wound to heal. I feel great, full-go. I haven't had any setbacks from it. I feel 100 percent. I feel better than I have in the past five, six years. This was just something I needed to get done and cleaned up... Triston Casas dropped about 15-20 pounds over the winter after the organization expressed some concern that some of his lower-body injuries in recent years were potentially the result of carrying too much weight. "I ended the season a little heavy last year,'' he said. "I didn't really like where I was. weight-wise. I felt like if I dropped 15-20 pounds coming into the season, it would help me play more games, take a little more stress off my body. I've never played the amount of games that I want to play this year, so going into the season, I figured I'd make an adjustment and do something different.''