With all the talk and debate over shutting down the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg within the next two or three weeks, it seems only fair to address the White Sox' plans for Chris Sale, too, as the season winds down.
Chicago pitching coach Don Cooper indicated that the club will not give the left-hander extra rest.
"We're in a pennant race and we're going to go for it and we're going to run him out there," Cooper told Daryl van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
There is some risk in pitching Sale every five days, considering he's already at 157 innings, which is more than double his career-high in the majors. Granted, Sale spent his first two years with the Sox as a reliever, which held his innings down, but he was primarily a starter in college, so it's not like he can't handle the workload. But this is still approaching unchartered territory for him.
It's also worth pointing out that Sale, 23, owns a 3.98 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 54 1/3 innings since the All-Star break, compared to the sparkling first-half numbers he put up: 2.19 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 102 2/3 innings.
Cooper did acknowledge that the team will continue to monitor Sale over the final month, saying "If more happens later that makes us think we need to give him an extra day or two, we might do it, but right now that's not on our minds."
Sale is simply to important to the White Sox playoff hopes.
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