Chris Sale To Get An MRI For Elbow Soreness After First Live BP

I really do feel like the Red Sox sold their soul for 2018. And if that's the case, I'm totally fine with that.

Taunt me all you want. I can't feel anything. I've been numb since Alex Cora got fired. Dick pills don't even work anymore. Laugh at the Red Sox' misfortunes if that's the avenue that you'd like to pursue. Just to recap, since the Red Sox won the most games in franchise history en route to dominating the playoffs and winning a World Series, they've finished in third place, the Athletic piece came out, Gerrit Cole signed with the Yankees, they closed my favorite bar outside of Fenway, Alex Cora got fired, MLB opened an investigation on the Red Sox that's taking three years to complete, Mookie Betts and David Price got traded, Brock Holt signed with the Brewers, and now Chris Sale's name is being mentioned in the same sentence as the Grim Reaper of Elbow Tendons.

I don't know why I'm surprised by this. Honestly, I'm not. It's kind of just a kick in the dick when I'm already dead. Sale was already expected to miss Opening Day because of pneumonia, which some fans were confused by because he was doing interviews and all that. The reason for that, I'm guessing, is because he lost some weight when he didn't have a ton to work with, so he had to get the weight back along with his strength. Reports were that the elbow wasn't a concern, but then there were images of him throwing with an elbow sleeve on, so I'm not sure how anyone down in Ft. Myers could have drawn the conclusion that there was no concern with the elbow.

And now we have this. Sale threw his first live BP, felt discomfort in his elbow, Ron Roenicke called it "concerning" and now he's off to get an MRI that will then be sent to Dr. James Andrews. Obviously we're hoping for the best, but "the best" hasn't been a scenario that has played out for the Red Sox in quite some time. What sucks even more is that the Red Sox were already down to three starting pitchers in the rotation to at least start the season with Sale unable to take the ball on Opening Day. You've got Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, and Martin Perez. Then what? Two openers? Jesus Christ.

For now, the Red Sox can use Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez to fill those two spots if they choose, but there was some belief that Boston wanted to give some young arms a shot with the vacated spots, perhaps also trying out Ryan Weber as an opener. I'll tell ya what -- if I'm a reliever in that Red Sox bullpen, I'm not exactly giddy about the fact that there are only three starters in that rotation, one of which has a long injury history and another that isn't exactly expected to go deep into games.

Just when you think it can't get any worse for the 2020 Boston Red Sox, it does. And the investigation still hasn't even come out yet.