Chris Sale to the 60-Day IL

Boy does this suck. This yearly occurrence of a nagging injury sending Sale to the IL is getting really fucking old, especially considering how much we are paying him. This one sucks even more because all of the news over the past week has been that he is feeling good, is ahead of schedule, and was due to start throwing either this week or early next week. Now? We won't be seeing 41 on the bump until at least June, leaving our current starters to shoulder the load until his return.

In that time, my eyes will be on the 5th spot in the rotation, with the plan being to piggyback Whitlock with Hill similar to how he utilized with Houck last year. They will need to eat as many innings as possible so we can keep the rest of our pen fresh for our other four starts. I actually think they are going to do the same thing with Houck and Crawford, but that will be more of an experiment than something to be relied on.

Back to Sale though - there is a silver lining in this. Missing 2 months-worth of starts means that he will be fresher later on down the stretch. Come August and September, we need Sale starts to be considered automatic wins. If this helps, then so-be it, but in the moment it absolutely blows.