Chris Sale is closing on coming back to the Red Sox. That much is clear.
After throwing a batting practice session in which his fastball touched 96 mph Monday, Sale could very well find himself on a minor-league rehab assignment within the next week.
"I know Thursday, I think we're going up and down live B.P. After that, we’ll see what we’ve got," he said when talking with the media at Fenway Park before Tuesday night's game. "I would like to (pitch in a minor-league game), but again, I'm along for the ride."
What his return will look like is another matter, completely.
The idea of Sale possibly beginning his 2022 season as a reliever was broached, with the pitcher - who has been out all season due to a fractured rib - not pushing back on the idea.
"For sure," said Sale when asked if he would be open to the idea of relieving. "I think, at this point, nothing really matters other than getting back out there. Whatever that means, you’ve kind of seen the evolution of our pitching staff. Different guys are hot at different times. If we’ve got five guys rolling in the rotation and they’re like, hey, you’re going to go to the bullpen, if hey, we’re holding it down out there and we need someone in the rotation and I slide in there. luckily we have the flexibility to do that. I have experience doing both and at the end of the day, whatever it is, it is. For me, pitching is pitching. Strike one, strike two, strike three, get them out. Hand me the ball, I’ll throw it until you take it. That’s where I’m at."
Later in the 11-minute get-together, Sale elaborated on his approach to a return.
"If you told me to go throw five innings, I’d find a way to throw five innings. It's just how it is," he explained. "I understand that there's a buildup and everyone gets caught up in pitch counts and all this stuff. But at the end of the day, if you throw 30 pitches one day and you gotta go out and throw 80 pitches the next day, just do it.
"If they let me, I’d do it. Like I said, I don't have any say, any care, any preference. I’m a blank sheet of paper. Just hand me the ball and I'm gonna go throw it until A.C. (Alex Cora) comes out there and tells me I'm not throwing. And I'm gonna give him some crap when he tries to do that. But that's just my mindset. That's all I have. If I start thinking too far ahead, or if I pulled the ego card, or this, that, or the other… It's just the same game. I've been watching 11-year-old baseball. My son has been playing so much baseball. I just learned by watching that the simplicity of this game. It really just comes down to throw strikes, play defense, and score more than the other. Pitchers go pitch, defense, hold it down, hitters, go score runs. My job is to throw the ball."
It promises to be an earlier return than Sale experienced a year ago when coming back from Tommy John surgery. That debut came on Aug. 14, with the lefty ultimately pitching in nine regular season games. During that stretch his fastball averaged 93 mph, ending up 3.16 ERA with the Red Sox going 7-2 in his starts.
"I was prepared for all of this at the start of spring training," he said. "I did everything this offseason I could for arm strength. I went old school. We’re long tossing. We’re throwing foul pole to foul pole. Me and Nick (Pivetta) were playing freaking Tarzan catch in the offseason because I knew the one thing I needed was arm strength. That part of it, I wasn’t really worried about it. Obviously getting that number (96 mph) in a live BP at 10 o’clock in an empty stadium, that feels good. It’s a sign of going in the right direction. But it’s not the end-all, be-all for me. My command, how my body reacts afterward. Today’s almost more exciting than yesterday because I felt like I could go do that again today if I had to. If they told me, hey, you’ve got a live BP again today, I wouldn’t have flinched. That, to me, is more exciting and telling and my body telling me, 'Hey, you’re ready for this now.'"
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