For the first time since he was traded by the Chicago White Sox over the offseason, Chris Sale is back in the Windy City as the Boston Red Sox come to town for a series this week.
Sale, who spent the first seven seasons of his career with the White Sox, was traded in a blockbuster deal that signaled the start of a rebuilding process for the South Siders. The hurler posted a 3.00 ERA and struck out 1244 batters during his tenure with the White Sox, but even though his time with the team has come to an end, there are no hard feelings after they traded him.
“I knew stuff like this happens in the game,” he told reporters at Guaranteed Rate Field Monday. “You always know it’s a possibility and you just deal with it. There’s no hard feelings. It just came to a point in time where it needed to happen.”
Even though Sale was primarily known for his strong pitching during his time in Chicago, he also ruffled feathers and caused controversy at times. He once yelled at White Sox President Kenny Williams during an altercation over Adam LaRoche’s departure from the team, and before a 2016 game the hurler was sent home after he destroyed the team’s throwback jerseys with a pair of scissors in the clubhouse.
Calling such incidents “blips on the radar,” Sale said that his time in Chicago, and the adversity he faced, helped make him into the player he is today.
“It got me to where I am today,” he said. “(I) can’t change the past – just try to become better in the future. Without a lot of people in this building I wouldn’t be sitting here right now. That’s for sure.”
Sale will pitch for the Red Sox on Tuesday night, where he’ll go up against the man that replaced him as the team’s ace pitcher. Jose Quintana hasn’t quite lived up to that billing so far this season, going 2-6 with a 4.82 ERA in 10 starts so far this season.
Chicago Baseball
Meanwhile, Sale has settled in nicely with his new club, going 5-2 with a 2.34 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 10 starts for the Red Sox so far this season.
