CHRIS SALE IN FENWAY PARK? GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

(Aug. 13, 2016 - Source: Rob Foldy/Getty Images North America)

Now that everyone’s had some time to recover from the shock and awe of Boston’s big move for Chris Sale, don’t go all "Felix Lopez" and start dumping your precious pinstripe memorabilia just yet.

Somewhere between the ominous conventional wisdom summed up in the New York Post’s Yankees spent $99M and didn’t do the one thing they needed and the New York Times slightly more nuanced Yankees’ Three-Year Plan: Keep Building, Then Collect, there lies a lot of wiggle room between a Yankee team that doesn’t have much of a chance in a division that now includes Sale, and one that just may surprise and compete sometime between next year and 2019. And no matter which side of the fan’s water glass test you might land – half-full or half-empty -- there’s always the unexpected, and the breaks can go either way for every team.  As for myself, call me crazy, a hopeless optimist or just a flat-out Yankee homer jackass, but even on the subject of Sale there a few warm thoughts to be found on a cold winter day. Check this out...

(July 11, 2016 - Source: Harry How/Getty Images North America)

Neil Greenberg, stat maven extraordinaire of the Washington Post, in a piece entitled Chris Sale is a great addition for the Red Sox. There’s just one problem, points out that Sale is moving from the 21st most hitter-friendly park to the 4th-most hitter friendly park, adding: “Since 2010, hitters produced a fly ball against Sale on 35.4 percent of balls put in play — one of the highest rates among pitchers with at least 750 innings during that span.” 

An accompanying chart of his fly balls at Guaranteed Rate Field overlaying Fenway show a bunch of his routine fly outs and doubles would’ve cleared the Green Monster in Boston for dingers. 

(Oct. 6, 2016 - Source: Jason Miller/Getty Images North America)

He further pointed out how David Price likewise saw his home run rate double and ERA spike dramatically since moving into the cozy confines there.

Is Sale a great addition to their staff? Heck yeah. Do the Yankees still need to bolster their rotation? Unquestionably. But even if you want to bow down to the Sox for their bold move, don’t lay down quite yet. 

(Aug. 15, 2015 - Source: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images North America)

As their GM Dave Dombrowski explained the day the deal was done: “Nothing is guaranteed in life. You don’t even make these moves, and it doesn’t mean that you’re going to win by any means, but I think you keep taking a chance and going for it as much as you possibly can and hopefully it works for you some day.”

Or it doesn’t.

Only the Green Monster and the trade deadline know for sure.

 --Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter:  @nyyankeefanfore