Former Red Sox ace says he’s not a Hall of Famer and plans to throw for another 3-4 years

January 9, 2024 Sports Gist Baseball, MLB 0

Former Red Sox ace says he’s not a Hall of Famer and plans to throw for another 3-4 years

Former Red Sox ace Chris Sale said on the Foul Territory podcast Monday that he’s “absolutely not” a Hall of Famer.

Boston traded Sale to the Braves along with $17 million in cash for 22-year-old infielder Vaughn Grissom on Dec. 30. Atlanta then gave him a two-year, $38 million extension that includes a club option for 2026 worth $18 million.

Get exclusive insights and bonus content from Sean McAdam, Chris Cotillo and Chris Smith. We’ll talk through the hot stove rumors together, bring you inside the GM and winter meetings, spring training and give you exclusive access from the Fenway Park press box and beyond.

“Hall of Fame critics are very, very tough and this is a weird thing for me to even talk about, to be completely honest,” Sale told hosts A.J. Pierzynski, Scott Braun and Erik Kratz. “I just think that I would have to pitch like I pitched in my prime for five more years and mix in a couple more either team trophies or personal trophies and I just don’t think I have five years left in me. I would love to play for three years maybe, four years. Something like that.”

Sale has a 3.10 ERA and 47.2 WAR in 343 outings (263 starts) over 13 major league seasons. He has 2,189 strikeouts in 1,780 ⅔ innings. He has averaged 11.1 strikeouts and 2.1 walks per nine innings. He was on a Hall of Fame track until 2020 when injuries began to limit him. He made just 31 regular season starts for Boston from 2020-23.

“Put it this way, if Mark Buehrle is not a Hall of Famer, I am not a Hall of Famer. He’s ahead of me on that list by far. And if he’s not even relatively close, then that makes me look at myself and think I’m even further away.”

Buehrle had a career 3.81 ERA and 59.1 WAR in 518 career outings (493 starts). He pitched 3,283 ⅓ innings, 99th all-time. He is on his third year on the Hall of Fame ballot and has never finished with more than 11% of the vote.

“Those are things for me — that’s not why I’m here,” Sale said. “It’s cool to talk about but again it’s a weird thing to talk about for me.”

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*