Red Sox's Chris Sale Has Tommy John Surgery on Elbow Injury; Won't Pitch in 2020

The Boston Red Sox announced that ace Chris Sale underwent successful Tommy John surgery by Dr. Neal ElAttrache at Los Angeles' Kerlan-Jobe Institute on Monday.

According to MLB.com's Ian Browne, the earliest Sale will return to the mound will be June 2021.

Browne provided a recent quote from Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom: "It obviously varies. I think generally 12 months would be pretty aggressive [to return]. Usually it takes longer than that to make sure you're doing the buildup properly. I think often we see 14 to 15 [months] as kind of that mid-range. But everybody is different."

Boston confirmed on March 19 that Sale, who turned 31 on Monday, would have Tommy John to repair the UCL in his left elbow.

The seven-time All-Star was diagnosed with a flexor strain on March 5 after he had experienced pain during a bullpen session on March 1:

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported on March 4 that Sale was "not expected" to need Tommy John surgery "at this point," and Sale was cleared to throw after an MRI as well as second and third opinions from Dr. ElAttrache and Dr. James Andrews.

However, "he experienced enough pain that we had to put a stop to it," Bloom said, per NBC Sports Boston's John Tomase.

Bloom continued:

"He huddled with us, from folks that were on-site and on the phone, where we put our heads together and made this determination. We knew obviously when he had the setback at the beginning of the month that this was a possibility. When we let the flexor calm down and ramped him up again, he didn't respond as we had hoped and that's where we are today."

Sale missed the last six weeks of the Red Sox's 2019 campaign with elbow discomfort in his left arm, but it was determined at that time that he could do without Tommy John:

The left-hander finished a disappointing season with the first losing record (6-11) and highest ERA (4.40) of his 10-year MLB career. 

The Chicago White Sox traded Sale to Boston in December 2016. The Florida native led the league with 308 strikeouts and 214.1 innings pitched in 2017 before helping the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series. Sale signed a five-year, $145 million contract extension with the Red Sox last March.

MLB's 2020 season has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Opening Day was supposed to take place on March 26, but it won't take place "until mid-May at the earliest," ESPN's Jeff Passan relayed on March 16.

Once the season eventually begins, Eduardo Rodriguez will presumably lead Boston's rotation.