Chris Sale returns
NORTH PORT, Fla. - Even though Chris Sale now is living his spring training baseball an hour north of the Red Sox' complex, that doesn't mean he missed what Alex Cora said.
"He looks like Chris Sale, but stronger."
In Sale's view, it was a comment that immediately necessitated a quick text to his former manager, complete with a GIF featuring a flexing skinny kid.
"I saw that and I laughed out loud," Sale said on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast. "I wrote: 'This is me in the mirror after what you said about me and Crochet.'"
The comparisons with Sale and Crochet are too easy. Both former White Sox. Both statuesque left-handers. Both perceived among the best starters in the game.
But the thing that should truly forever the link the two is their trades.
Having deals where four players are sent for one is rare enough. But when it happens involving the same two teams - the White Sox and Red Sox - it is certainly unique. Sale and Crochet are the only two who have lived that exact existence.
Dec. 6, 2016: Red Sox send Michael Kopech, Yoan Moncada, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz to the White Sox for Sale.
Dec. 11, 2024: Red Sox send Braden Montgomery, Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez to the White Sox for Crochet.
So, what advice would Sale pass on to the new Red Sox ace?
"Watching him pitch, I really don’t think I have to tell him a whole lot," the current Braves ace chuckled.
"You know how it goes with Boston. There is a lot of riff-raff with outside noise. I would probably tell him to do his best to block that out. Based on what I’ve learned, whether you’re doing really good, or doing really bad, the job is the same. He’s in a position to man that staff and to be able to handle all the pressure that comes with who he is, where he is at and what he needs to do there."
Sale - who has only met Crochet once, briefly at last season's All-Star Game - understands the excitement and anticipation that comes with arriving such a deal.
He handled all of it expertly in his first season in Boston, finishing second in AL Cy Young voting while going 17-8 with a 2.90 ERA over 32 starts in 2017. Sale now believes this next iteration - Crochet - can offer similar results.
"There’s a lot to be excited about for the fans. He’s a stud," Sale noted. "What he showed he could do last year as a building block to further that this year, they should be excited. I have heard nothing but good things and what he does on the field is nothing short of amazing. He should be alright."