Chris Sale deserves to get paid.
The problem for the Boston Red Sox is, there are several other players who are also deserving of the same.
Sale will be a free agent next winter. So will Xander Bogaerts and Rick Porcello. And if J.D. Martinez wants to opt out of his five-year, $110 million contract after the 2019 season, he can. On top of all that, Jackie Bradley and Mookie Betts are set to hit free agency after the 2020 season. So, yeah, the Red Sox have some tough decisions to make. And soon.
The first decision I would make is to offer Sale a contract that he simply can’t refuse, right now.
Red Sox owner Tom Werner told WEEI’s “Mut and Callahan” this week that the team has had “private” conversations with Sale about a possible contract extension before he’s able to hit free agency. Those comments came on the same day that owner John Henry admitted the organization “blew it” with the Jon Lester negotiations before Lester’s final season in Boston in 2014.
Lester was 30 years old at the time of those negotiations. Sale will turn 30 next month. The time for talking about it is over. Werner and Henry must simply put their money where their mouths are and give Sale the type of contract he deserves.
Sale has been criminally underpaid in his nine-year MLB career. He’ll make $15 million in 2019 after the Red Sox picked up the club option that was part of his team-friendly five-year, $32.5 million deal that he signed with the Chicago White Sox prior to the 2013 season. The deal included two years of club options, which ultimately made it a seven-year, $60 million contract.
So, one of the best starting pitchers in baseball over the last six years has made an average annual salary of only $8.5 million? That’s insane. And, like I said, criminal.
His $15 million in 2019 is a nice payday, for sure, but it’s still much less than what he’s actually worth. Sale knows that too, which is why it’s important for the Red Sox to make him happy right now instead of letting him hit free agency next winter with a sour taste in his mouth and a much larger contract waiting for him elsewhere.
There are pros and cons to getting a deal done now, of course. For each side.
For the Red Sox, the pros are obvious: You’d have your ace locked up for the foreseeable future, and it’s one less free agent you have to worry about next winter.
The cons for the organization would be that — like it or not — Sale’s health is definitely a factor. His throwing shoulder will be heavily monitored this season after dealing with inflammation that put him on the DL multiple times toward the end of last season, resulting in a decrease in velocity at times.
What if that inflammation returns? What if it’s more serious than last year and requires some type of procedure that affects his future? These are real questions that need to be asked before pulling out the checkbook.
For Sale, the pros are that he wouldn’t have to enter the currently unpredictable world of MLB free agency, which has clubs possibly taking a stand against bidding wars for star players. At the same time, Manny Machado did just receive a 10-year, $300 million deal from the San Diego Padres.
But still, the fact that it took until the beginning of Spring Training for one of baseball’s best young stars to sign a long-term deal — all while Bryce Harper is still looking for his new team — should be concerning.
The cons for Sale signing now would be that perhaps he leaves some money on the table for a team that’s desperate for star pitching and is willing to get nuts. I would never blame him for wanting to test free agency and see what he’s worth on the open market. He’s earned that right. But in this current free-agent climate, it’s certainly a risk, especially for a 30-year-old pitcher with shoulder concerns.
So what would get it done now? How about a five-year, $140 million deal? That’s an average annual salary of $28 million. But you could front-load the first three years and offer player opt-outs after Years 3 and 4. That would make it a contract somewhere in between Clayton Kershaw’s three-year, $93 million extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Zack Greinke’s six-year, $206 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Sound good?
Sale deserves it. And it’s time for the Red Sox to give it to him.
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