Sources: Sale, Red Sox agree to 5-year extension
Left-hander Chris Sale and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a contract extension, pending a physical next week, league sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The five-year deal is in the $150 million range, league sources told Passan. The deal adds to Sale’s current contract (one year remaining) and will go through the 2024 season.
The Athletic first reported that an agreement was in place.
Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale wants to make 30-plus starts and pitch 200-plus innings, like he’d done in four of his previous five seasons.
Sale, who will turn 30 on March 30, was in the final season of the five-year contract he signed with the Chicago White Sox before the 2013 season. The contract guaranteed $32.5 million, including a 2017 option buyout. That deal will end up paying him $59 million over seven seasons plus award bonuses.
The 2017 AL Cy Young Award runner-up and a seven-time All-Star, Sale struck out the side in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2018 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers to close out Boston’s fourth championship in 15 seasons.
Sale, who started the All-Star Game for a third straight season, went 12-4 with a 2.11 ERA and 237 strikeouts in 158 innings. He finished fourth in the Cy Young vote
Sale also dealt with shoulder inflammation that led to two stints on the injury list in the second half along with diminished velocity and dominance in the playoffs.