The road is long, the song reminds us, with many a winding turn.
Chris Sale understood that when he underwent Tommy John surgery almost a year ago to the day. What he couldn’t have known at the time were the detours he might encounter along the way.
With a projected recovery time of anywhere from 12-15 months prescribed, Sale had reasonable expectations that he would already be throwing off a mound this month, taking his final tentative steps toward rejoining the Red Sox in the first half of the season.
But Sale hadn’t accounted for the things that could interfere with his recovery. Like contracting COVID-19 over the winter. And, more significantly, a neck issue that has slowed his work and precluded him from making the kind of progress he anticipated.
When the Red Sox pack up in Fort Myers Tuesday afternoon and set out for Boston, Sale will travel with them. In one sense, that’s a positive, since Sale will be allowed to remain with his teammates as the 2021 season gets underway. But measured in another way, it’s a reminder of how far Sale still must travel. After all, if Sale were actually close to finishing his rehab, he would be left behind in Fort Myers, where the warm weather and ample facilities would allow his throwing program to accelerate.
Still, Sale remains resolute in his comeback.
“This is definitely the most different spring training I’ve had,” Sale told BostonSportsJournal.com, “with, obviously, the (COVID) protocols and everything, and, on a personal level, this is the first spring I’ve ever rehabbed, like come into spring training with an injury. Last year, I had had the PRP (platelet-rich plasma injections), but we kind of thought I was in the clear. So, yeah, it’s been an adjustment. But you do everything you can on a daily basis and that’s basically been my focus.”
Beyond the drudgery of the physical rehab and work, the endless games of long toss and running, there’s the mental aspect of this comeback. Sale is as competitive as they come, and he finds himself without an outlet for that competitiveness.
“You definitely have days where you feel like it’s never going to end,” he acknowledged, “and there was kind of a hiccup in the plan with my neck issues. You feel like you’re climbing this hill forever, like you’re always going to be stuck in this position. But that’s not the case. Sometimes you get so acute with your focus. If you’re looking straight down at the ground, you’re not going to see where you’re going. Every once in a while, you just need a reminder like, ‘Hey, take a breath, look up and keep grinding.’ ”