The Red Sox have announced that Chris Sale “has today undergone an open reduction and an internal fixation of a proximal phalanx fracture of the fifth left finger.” Although the timeline is unclear at this time, the team believes it is still possible for Sale to return later this year. (Twitter links by Chris Cotillo of MassLive and Chad Jennings of The Athletic.)
Yesterday, Sale had to abandon his start against the Yankees without leaving the first inning after a lift hit his throwing hand, clearly injuring him. The Red Sox later announced that their little finger, or “fifth left finger,” was broken. After the match, Sale himself said he expected to lose between 4 and 6 weeks, although the fact that surgery was necessary increases the possibility that a longer recovery time will be required.
In a longer look at the subject, Cotillo talks to orthopedic surgeon Chris Geary, who believes Sale won’t even be able to catch a ball for 4-6 weeks. That means it would be in late August before Sale can start doing bullpen sessions, which wouldn’t leave him much time to go to a rehab job and get back into the shape of the game, especially considering that he had just returned from a different injury. . After being diagnosed with a stress fracture in the rib cage in the spring, he missed the first few months of the season and recently returned, making a healthy exit, followed by the exit where his finger was broken.
While the club believe Sale may still be back at some point, they may have to operate under the assumption that their season is over, at least from a rotation perspective. Moving towards shorter stays outside the bullpen would not take as long as returning to a headline’s full workload, which would make it easier for Sale to return as a reliever.
The club has been especially bitten in the rotation lately, with Rich Hill, Michael Wacha, Connor Seabold and Josh Winckowski landing on the injured list in the last three weeks. With Sale sure to join them, this will leave Boston with a rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and Kutter Crawford coming out of the All-Star. James Paxton is still working to return from Tommy John surgery from April 2021, but has yet to begin rehabilitation work. Garrett Whitlock was in the rotation earlier this year, but has just returned from his own IL period as a reliever and is not fully stretched. Potential Brayan Bello made a couple of starts recently, but allowed nine runs won in eight innings.
Those struggles in the rotation have coincided with a slip in the standings. Since June 26, they have gone 6-14 and dropped to two Blue Jays games for last place in the American League Wild Card. The trade deadline of August 2 is now just over two weeks away and they will surely have to consider adding some weapons, even if some of their wounded launchers can return to the hill. Although, if they slide further in the coming weeks, it can affect the aggressiveness they are willing to be.