Red Sox expect Chris Sale to be fully healthy, not need surgery

Chris Sale appeared to be less than 100 percent healthy down the stretch and throughout the playoffs, but the Boston Red Sox do not anticipate him having any lingering issues in 2019.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters on Thursday that the team expects Sale to be ready to go by spring training and not undergo any surgical procedures on his throwing shoulder.

Dombrowski on Sale: ‘We anticipate him coming to spring training being 100 percent … at this point without any surgical procedures.’

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) November 1, 2018

While Sale was able to help Boston en route to a championship and even struck out the side to close out the World Series, he lost some of the zip on his fastball late in the season. He was throwing in the high-90s and even hitting 100 at times when he was at his best during the summer, but his fastball hovered in the mid-90s after he made two separate trips to the disabled list.

Sale also dealt with a mysterious health issue during the playoffs, and there was some speculation that his shoulder wasn’t right and the Red Sox were trying to hide it. The left-hander has had a tendency to fade late in seasons throughout his career. If there’s truly nothing wrong with his shoulder, it appears he had the same problem in 2018.