All-Stars Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez are crushing it in Braves' rotation. If only, right, White Sox?
ARLINGTON, Texas — Do you think Braves All-Star pitchers Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez might be a little better off with their White Sox days behind them?
‘‘I think I’m just smarter now, in a weird way,’’ Sale, the lefty ace, said Monday at Globe Life Field. ‘‘I have a better understanding of what I can do to be successful.’’
And Lopez?
‘‘Oh, my God,’’ the right-hander said. ‘‘Yes. Bad things happen. You just have to try to move on from that.’’
Sox fans must wonder what it would be like to have the 2024 versions of both of them.
All Sale ever really wanted to be for his team — any team — was a Mark Buehrle type of pitcher.
‘‘The gold standard,’’ Sale, the former Sox star, called Buehrle, his former mentor, a day before the All-Star Game. ‘‘You take the ball every fifth day, you go as deep as you can in games and you don’t get hurt. That was just what you did then. That was it.’’
In seven seasons with the Sox, remembered for a spectacular five-year stretch as a starter, Sale built the foundation for such a career. He dominated on the mound and spent next to no time on the injured list before the Sox traded him to the Red Sox for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and others heading into 2017.
But after seven consecutive All-Star appearances and top-six finishes in the Cy Young race, Sale’s health abandoned him. Between Tommy John surgery and hand, wrist and back injuries, he made a total of 11 big-league starts in 2020-22.
‘‘It took its toll on me a little more because I wasn’t used to it, and that’s just not how I was wired,’’ he said. ‘‘Being injured like that wasn’t even a possibility to me. But through my injuries, I learned that my path is to get up and get through it. I think, in a weird way, it helped me get to where I am today.’’
Now 35 and absolutely killing it for the Braves, who traded for him in the offseason, Sale not only is pitching as well as ever but has a chance to be the best in baseball in 2024. Pirates rookie Paul Skenes, who will start the game Tuesday, is all the rage, but it’s Sale who leads the majors in victories — he’s 13-3 — to go with his 2.70 ERA, minuscule .955 WHIP and 140 strikeouts. If Sale hadn’t pitched for the Braves on Sunday, he would have had the best case of anyone, Skenes
included, to start for the National League.
As for Lopez, how is it that a power-throwing right-hander the Sox gave up on as a starter in 2021 is an All-Star as a starter in a top organization? Lopez, whom the Sox traded along with Lucas Giolito to the Angels for prospects at the deadline last season, is 7-3 with a 1.88 ERA.
‘‘It’s a dream,’’ Lopez said, ‘‘one of the best things in my life.’’
Sale called Lopez ‘‘unbelievable’’ and didn’t stop there.
‘‘As of right now, I think he’s the best pitcher in the National League if you look at his numbers and what he’s done, just his consistency,’’ Sale said. ‘‘I mean, you get to this point in a season, and your bad start is [giving up] three runs? A lot of people would do a lot of things to have that. And with his work ethic, he deserves this. He earned this in every right.’’
They’ve bonded by talking about their Sox days and people in common. Sale even called former Sox pitching coach Don Cooper the other day to say hi after swapping memories of him with Lopez.
‘‘We talk more about the good stuff,’’ Sale said. ‘‘We’re not here to trash anybody. But we’re doing pretty good where we are.’’