Cooper: Sale's All-Star Rest Planned Since Spring Training
(WSCR) The White Sox created quite a stir when they announced Chris Sale would skip his Sunday start against the Blue Jays. The move allows the left-hander to pitch freely in the All-Star Game, but the team insists the decision wasn't made for the All-Star Game.
"We've done this for years," pitching coach Don Cooper said Thursday on The Mully & Hanley Show. "We did this for (Mark) Buehrle. We did it last year, we went to a six-man rotation. But it's not only for him, it's for everybody. When you talk about Chris Sale being a first-year starter, you also have to think about (Jose) Quintana and you also have to think about the rookies we have in the bullpen. What's their high-water mark?"
LISTEN: Don Cooper On The Mully & Hanley Show
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The move gives Chris Sale at least nine days off, but it will likely be even more as the White Sox plan to put him towards the back end of the rotation to give him even more rest. Cooper went as far as to say this has been planned since spring training.
"We're watching them all, but this is something we set out to do from the beginning of spring training," he said. "We had this kind of earmarked to check out around the All-Star break to see if we can get (Sale) a handful of days before and put him in the back end after the All-Star break to give him that pit stop, so to speak.
"The bottom line is we're playing for a pennant, after the All-Star break, we're going for it. We're going to do everything in our power to continue to give him the right rest, to continue to keep him strong to go out there and hopefully get the job done"
