One time-honored way to answer the question that is raised by their WAR comparisons (Chris Davis thread): in a retrospective contest, such as Strato-O-Matic, do you take Sale ahead of Davis?

Once in a blue moon the interleague thing works. 39,000 in Cellular Field today to watch the home team pitcher sail through seven innings, allowing his first and only hit with one out in the sixth, walking two, striking out 15 in seven innings. Close to half of the crowd had nothing to cheer about until Soler homered with two out in the ninth.

Disastrous night for Sale owners. Those of you interested in the daily game, Sale was considered a slam dunk against the Twins. Ha! I think the rule of DFS is to embrace deviance, but it is hard to do that.

I had an avulsion fracture in my right ankle (granted, I was 50). I was in a walking boot for four or five weeks, and was playing tournament softball after eight weeks or so (with a brace). Probably of limited comparison value with a 25-year-old professional athlete, to be sure (though even in my 20s I healed fairly quickly from injuries). One point to make is, my understanding of the ankle injuries I've had is, an avulsion fracture is almost always accompanied with ligament damage, and ligaments heal in their own time. In fact, it was always said to me that ligaments heal more slowly than fractures do. Just an additional word of caution , , ,

Ventura is not optimistic at all that Sale will be ready in time to start opening day.

Good stuff, Tim. I thought Eugene's point about him rushing back without a proper camp was reason for concern, but this is more so.

The injury to Sale is being described as an Avulsion Fracture. I took a stroll over to a site called footeducation.com and this quote is from that site.

"A twisting injury to the ankle and foot may cause an avulsion (pulling off) fracture of the base of the 5th metatarsal -the bone that the little toe attaches to (Figure 1). A small fragment of bone at the base of the 5th metatarsal is pulled off by a strong ligament that is attached to this part of the bone. A Dancer’s fracture causes localized pain, swelling, and difficulty walking. In most instances this type of fracture can be treated non-operatively with relative immobilization in a walking boot combined with limited weight-bearing. It typically takes about 6 weeks for adequate bone healing to occur before patients can start to significantly increase their activity level. It often takes 12 or more weeks for a full recovery to occur. This type of injury needs to be differentiated from a “Jones fracture“ which occurs farther down the base of the 5th metatarsal and is related to repetitive stress to this area of the bone."

Three weeks is currently being reported as the scheduled recovery time frame and at this stage could be a bit optimistic? "The team will wait for the swelling to subside before determining his status", further leads me to believe that a cautious approach could be the prudent approach, especially for those that are drafting in the next couple of weeks.

Missing a few weeks of spring training (at least) with a broken bone in his foot.  You have to wonder if he's ever going to throw a full season's worth of innings.

Athlon Sports' predictions for the AL Cy Young:

1. Chris Sale

2. David Price

3. Felix Hernandez

4. Yu Darvish

5. Clorey Kluber

Three of these pitchers are repeats from last year's list in the magazine:

1. Yu Darvish

2. Justin Verlander

3. James Shields

4. David Price

5. Felix Hernandez

It's sort of surprising that Chris Sale didn't crack this list. And then he misses a bunch of starts with a sore elbow and tops it this year.

I understand the temptation, Eugene. Totally.

Altuve could be the best keeper of that bunch.