Red Sox ace Chris Sale unlikely to be ready for 2021 Opening Day

As the Red Sox made a pair of trades Monday that they believe will help their future, it was revealed that their most important pitcher likely won’t be ready for Opening Day in 2021.

Chris Sale, who is continuing to recover from Tommy John surgery he had in March, is progressing well, but the Red Sox are going to take their time with their ace.

“I think the timing with Chris with a typical Tommy John rehab is probably going to put him I would guess beyond Opening Day,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said. “It’s not something we want to rush. We have to respond to how the player is doing. You can’t rush that type of rehab.

“Chris is a bulldog, as you guys know. He’s so competitive and he is going to be I’m sure pushing timetables every step of the way but we’re going to make sure we take care of him for the long haul so this is the last hiccup he has to go through as he continues his really accomplished career.”

Bloom said after Sale’s surgery in March that the Red Sox expect the lefty’s recovery to take 14-15 months, a typical timeline from Tommy John. That would put a realistic timetable on Sale’s return to be in May or June of next year.

Sale said in August that he’s not concerned about when he returns as much as doing the rehab correctly as he prepares to pitch for another 10 years.

“This is the first time I’ve gone that long without playing,” said Sale, who hasn’t pitched since August 2019. “I get to get my body in shape to do this for another 10 years. I got 10 years in the big leagues and my body broke down. Now I build it back and go. That’s the way I’m looking at it.”

Bloom said the Red Sox expect Eduardo Rodriguez, who is missing this season due to complications from COVID-19, to be ready for the start of next season.

Luxury tax resets

The passing of Monday’s trade deadline meant that the luxury tax will be reset for 2021, which means teams will be taxed for their 2020 payrolls. That’s significant news for a Red Sox team that has been penalized for blowing through the tax each of the last two seasons.

Red Sox owner John Henry revealed last season that the team’s goal was to get under the competitive balance threshold for 2021, and the team later clarified it was a goal, not a mandate even after they traded Mookie Betts in February. Bloom thinks that narrative has been overblown.

“Going back to February, I think I said then and would say now that the luxury tax, the CBT is a factor, but I think the importance of that has been kind of overplayed in the storyline that’s surrounded us this year,” Bloom said. “It’s obviously something we monitor, but as I said in February, I always felt that the depth and sustainability of the talent base was a much bigger priority than that.”

Sox optimistic about Benintendi

With everyday starter Kevin Pillar gone, Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said he’ll use a combination of Jose Peraza, Tzu-Wei Lin, J.D. Martinez and Yairo Muñoz to fill his outfield spot. One name he didn’t mention was Andrew Benintendi, who is still on the injured list with a strained right rib cage.

Bloom said there’s still a chance Benintendi can return this season with 25 games left.

“We’re still optimistic,” Bloom said. “As Ron said the other day, he’s coming along but coming along slowly, certainly more slowly than we hoped when this originally happened.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/32Dn5yS