Just two seasons ago, the Boston Red Sox’s lack of an ace was such a hot topic that Clay Buchholz made T-shirts about it. Now, the Red Sox have three of them.
Dave Dombrowski and Co. landed the prize of the offseason Tuesday in Chris Sale, adding one of the best pitchers in baseball to a rotation that includes five-time All-Star David Price and reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello.
In a conference call with the Red Sox on Wednesday morning, Sale gushed about pitching among such talent. It appears the feeling is mutual, too: Sale says Price was the first person to contact him after Tuesday’s blockbuster.
“Yes, more so with Price, just seeing each other during the summer,” Sale said when asked how well he knows Price and Porcello. “He was actually the first one to reach out to me, welcoming me and saying, ‘Hey, let’s go. Welcome to the Sox, and let’s get it rolling.’
“It’s an honor. I mean, you look at these guys — Porcello, he lives down here in Southwest Florida, as well, so it’s nice. Not only the guys that they are, but heck, David Price won the Cy Young a few years ago, (and) obviously Porcello this year. Being in that company is nice.”
There is one obvious question, of course: Who gets the “ace” label on this stacked staff? Will Sale be upset if Price starts on Opening Day, or if Porcello gets the ball in Game 1 of a playoff series? The 27-year-old left-hander provided a diplomatic answer.
“Once you get going two weeks down the road, numbers get jumbled up,” Sale said. “I’m not going to sit here and say this or that about the ‘ace’ tag. I don’t think that matters. I think when you have a group of guys that come together that believe in the same thing and fight for the same purpose, nothing else really matters.
“We play for a trophy, not a tag.”
That won’t stop the inevitable chatter in Boston, which has a history of putting its athletes under a microscope. But Sale appears equipped to handle the limelight, mainly by adopting a stance very different than Price’s.
“I’m not a big media guy. I don’t have Twitter. I’m not going to be reading as much about everything as probably the next guy.
“I’m really more focused on the between-the-lines stuff. That’s what I signed up for. That’s what I look forward to. That’s what I live for, playing the game of baseball. Everything else, it’ll take care of itself, it’ll shake out. The good outweighs the bad. You’ve got to roll with it.”
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Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images