Former White Sox Sale 'appreciative' of time in Chicago
Chris Sale spent seven seasons with the Chicago White Sox, and he never got to experience the thrill of participating in the playoffs.
He's seemingly in a better place now after being traded to the Boston Red Sox, a team that has won the World Series three times in the last 13 years.
By trading Sale in December for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and two other minor-league prospects, the rebuilding White Sox are starting from scratch and hoping to eventually end a playoff drought that is approaching nine years.
Back on the South Side with his new team for a three-game series against his old team, Sale had nothing but fond memories of his time spent with the White Sox.
"I just want to let everyone know that I appreciated my time here," said Sale, the White Sox's first-round draft pick (No. 13 overall) in 2010. "There are a couple blips on the radar amongst a lot of really good times. More times than not, it was great here, and I appreciated it.
"I always had good teammates. I always had a great coaching staff. I'm appreciative of that, so I don't want to lose sight of that."
As for the blips, let's just say Sale had some anger issues during his days with the White Sox. He'll always be remembered for cutting up the 1976 throwback uniform tops the Sox were scheduled to wear during his start last July.
Sale was scratched from the game and suspended five games.
His behavior was a clear sign Sale wanted out, in my opinion, but the 28-year-old lefty wasn't looking back when he met the media on Monday.
"What's done is done," Sale said. "You can't really go back and say this or that about it. Like I said, I'm appreciative of my time here. I knew stuff like this happens in the game. I've seen a lot of teammates while I was over there get traded or go elsewhere through free agency and things like that.
"You always know it's a possibility and you just deal with it. There's no hard feelings. It just came to a point in time where that's what needed to happen. Like I said, I'm appreciative of everything that's gone on. This is where I called home for a long time, and it got me to this point in my career. I'm appreciative of that."
While he often clashed with Sox vice president Kenny Williams and former manager Robin Ventura, Sale was popular in the clubhouse.
"He cared for each and every one of us, no matter if you were first day in or 14 years in," White Sox relief pitcher Nate Jones said. "It didn't matter. He treated everybody the same and he took care of his guys, took care of us. I think that's something we all will remember.
"A great teammate, worked hard, did things the right way, stood up for what he believed in. Just a model citizen on and off the field."
The Sox welcomed Sale back with a video tribute on Monday. Tuesday night, Sale opposes close friend Jose Quintana in an interesting pitcher's duel.
"It will be fun," Sale said. "My oldest son, Rylan, asked me if I was going to be nervous playing here. A little bit of me will be, but I think I'm more looking forward to this opportunity than any other emotion just because it's fun.
"I'm playing against my friends. It might be hard to not smile out there on the mound at a couple of them. It's fun. These are my buddies. It's going to be a fun atmosphere, a fun time."
Todd Frazier is looking forward to standing at the plate against Sale instead of behind him at third base.
"I'm going to be excited," Frazier said. "I'm going to be gunning for him. Knowing the competitor he is and the competitor I am, and how our team has been doing, we're going after him.
"I've never faced him before. I just want to see that weird angle that he throws. He's going to come at me, so I've just got to be ready and focused. It should be a fun game to watch."