The White Sox will place Chris Sale on the disabled list after discovering the left-hander has suffered a flexor muscle strain in his left arm, according to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun Times.
Chris Sale headed to 15-day DL
The White Sox will place Chris Sale on the disabled list after the left-hander suffered a flexor muscle strain in his left arm.
David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Sale was supposed to start against the Tigers on Tuesday in Detroit, but the club announced that Sale would skip the start earlier Monday evening.
Prior to placing Sale on the DL, White Sox manager Robin Ventura had told the media that the lefty would be held out on Tuesday.
“He’s always sore after he pitches, not in an alarming way,” Ventura said about Sale. At the time, the team had not disclosed the nature of Sale’s injury, but now that Chicago has discovered just what is ailing the left-hander, the organization can at least be confident it won’t be a long-term issue.
Per Van Schouwen, White Sox GM Rick Hahn believes Sale won’t be out for more than 15 days after an MRI on his ligament came back clean.
Sale missed a start last May with tendinitis in his left shoulder, but has been quite durable -- despite an unorthodox throwing motion -- since the White Sox moved him into the rotation in 2012. The 25-year-old has made 30 starts in each of the past two seasons, while performing at a level that places him among the American League’s elite starters.
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As a result, Ventura isn’t too worried about Sale’s health for now.
“He always goes through a stretch like this at some point, so this might be that,” Ventura said. “We’ve done this in the past with him, we’ve given him a day when we can. We’ll know more tonight.”
In 2013, Sale posted a 3.07 ERA with 4.9 times as many strikeouts as walks over 214.1 innings pitched. He made the AL All-Star team for the second year in a row and finished fifth in the AL Cy Young voting. This came a year after Sale made his first appearances in the Chicago rotation and compiled a 3.05 ERA with 192 strikeouts in 192 innings back in 2012.
While it is too early to declare Sale damaged goods, there is no denying his loss is a big one for a White Sox team that is starting to show signs of having a decent, young core. No one on the roster possesses Sale's type of talent, especially in a starting rotation that features veteran Jose Quintana, rookie Erik Johnson and John Danks behind Sale.
Right-hander Andre Rienzo will start in place of Sale on Tuesday.
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