FORT MYERS, Fla. -- In each of the last three springs, Chris Sale has been little more than an observer in Red Sox camp. A highly-paid observer, to be sure, but an observer nonetheless.
In 2020, he had been hopeful that some PRP treatments the previous year and an offseason of rehab would improve his ailing elbow. Alas, it did not, and mere weeks after the pandemic struck, he underwent Tommy John surgery. The following spring, in 2021, Sale was still rehabbing from the procedure.
Then, in 2022, during the lockout and weeks before teams would report to camp, Sale suffered a stress fracture to his ribcage while throwing a pitch at his alma mater, nearby Florida Gulf Coast University, sidelining him until July.
The fact that this year, Sale is a full participant in normal spring activities -- bullpens, pitchers fielding practice, live BP sessions -- means, for a change, a sense of normalcy has returned to his career.
Addressing reporters for the first time this spring, Sale could barely contain his glee about his newfound rejuvenated self.
"No rehab, man. I'm a real boy,'' said Sale with a huge grin, in an apparent reference to Pinocchio.
This, however, is no fairy tale. Sale has a clean bill of health and with it, a determination to make up for lost time.
"Full-go,'' said Sale, assessing his status. "I say that with full confidence and pride. I was talking to (Alex Cora) and he was like, 'Do you want to throw (a bullpen behind the scenes) or go out there (in the open) today?' and I said, 'I've been treated special for long enough; i want to be one of the guys today.' It's nice. Being in the mix, being normal, having a workout, running, PFP, not coming in to get worked on. It's fun.''
"Fun'' has been in short supply for Sale, and so have innings. Since 2019, he's thrown just 48.1 innings. In his various rehab stints, it was a solitary existence. Now, he's with teammates, throwing in front of staff and team officials and media. He's no longer a fragile figure, behind glass.
"I just really enjoy the atmosphere,'' he said. "I enjoy being part of a team, working together. I've said it before - I had a tough time being by myself for some of these rehabs. And anytime I went anywhere -- it didn't matter if it was the complex league, didn't matter if it was Portland, Worcester, or in Boston, I always found I got a lift, a boost, from being around my teammates, from being in that atmosphere. It's just who I am, and what I've done for so long, so being away from that was tough.''
The long journey back to good health has been a twisting one, as Sale recounted Wednesday, and altered his perspective.
"You look at my career,'' he said. "You get to '18, you throw the last pitch in the World Series, get to spring training, sign the contract (extension)....What can go wrong, right? To answer that question, just about everything. I know how quickly it can be gone. I had a good run. The floor just got pulled right out from under me. So, just appreciating each day, each moment, my relationships with people, the experiences I have with the people I have relationships with...and perspective.''
Sale has two years and $55 million remaining on that extension, for which he's delivered little thanks to injuries. He knows he's grossly underperformed the deal, but that's not what drives him.
"I wouldn't necessarily (I'm driven) by trying to live up to the contract as much as I need to live up to what I need to be for my teammates, for my coaching staff, for the fans, for our owners,'' said Sale. "I was given that (extension) to do a job and I haven't done that. That's eaten me alive. I wouldn't say I'm trying to live up to a dollar amount. I'm just trying to live up to the guy I need to be and that's a guy who goes out there for 30-plus starts, 200 innings and winning games.''
Now that he is again healthy, however, the work has only just begun. It's one thing to take the ball, but Sale expects to be much more than that -- he hopes to be closer to the lefty who was 71-37 with a 2.85 ERA and a 0.992 WHIP and 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings from 2014-2018. It won't be enough to just show up. Sale wants to be dominant again, and there's only one formula to achieve that.
"Work,'' he said flatly. "Work and repetition. It's kind of the same for anything. If you want to get better at golf, swimming, baseball, anything, you've got to do your reps and you've got to put hard work in. I'm prepared for both. I'm excited for this opportunity to work and get reps in because I've been able to work, but I haven't been able to get reps. So to have the two combined is exciting.''
The key for Sale this month and next will be to not try to make up for all the lost time at once.
"You can only throw one pitch at a time, or make one start at a time,'' he said. "I learned a long time ago, the more you can (shrink things down, the better). You don't want to look at it as a full season, because then you waste months. You don't want to see it as months, because then you waste weeks. And so on and so forth, down to seconds. So for me, it's the old cliche, here we are in spring training: Ir's one pitch at a time, it really is.
"There's nothing I can do to change anything from this point backwards. So for me, my focus is on from here forward. I got today, today was a good day. Wake up tomorrow, tomorrow's a new day and start from there. Perspective, man, perspective. It's not going to change anything that's happened, but hopefully, it will change something in the future.''