For Yankee fans, Chris Sale's injury just brings a hollow emptiness

Yesterday, the Redsocks said Chris Sale will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2020 season. In normal times, this would provoke from us crocodile tears and snake dancing. We should be popping corks and leading conga lines. Where's the party? Why don't I hear the cheers?

The pandemic has done the impossible: 

It has stripped from us the unbridled joy of a Redsock setback. 

This blog should have balloons, buzzers, showgirls, champagne toasts. Boston's year just snapped like a Hershey bar. It was one thing to trade Mookie Betts; they got a young OF. But losing Sale? Good luck with that. In a shortened season, they can chase the wild card. But without a miracle emergence or two, they're done, and they know it. Sale is a $30 million millstone on their roster, and he'll weigh them down through 2025. He's 30. His Cy Young days are probably over. It's all downhill from here.

So... 

Listen: I harbor nothing personal against Sale - or for that matter, most Redsock players. I used to hate Big Papi and Pedro because of the pro-wrestling-style roles they played in the rivalry. These days, they often defend the Yankees on TV, having buried their past resentments. Then there is Curt Schilling who - beyond the politics - remains a boorish, self-righteous, hateful lout. Something happened to that guy; like Trump, he's his own worst enemy. I always secretly liked Betts, and until he beats us in a world series, I'll root for him, just knowing how much it burns Redsock fans. But Sale... whenever I see him, I have the same thought:

Shoulda been a Yankee.

Of course, I blame Food Stamps Hal. In the trade that brought Sale to Boston, the Redsocks gave up - dare I say the name? - Yoan Moncada - What's that? Moncada? Moncada! MONCADA? NIIIIAAGGGRA FALLLLLLLS!  SLOOOOOOOWLY, I TURNED. STEP BY STEP, I CREPT UP TO HIM... yep, they got Sale for Moncada, who shoulda been ours. All that winter, the Yankees talked about signing Moncada, a free agent from Cuba. For weeks, they winked at us and stressed how much they would be involved in the bidding war. Our future hinged on signing Moncada, and when Boston outbid us, Hal sealed his reputation as a  poor-mouthing incompetent for the decade. (His other unforgivable sin was in refusing to give Russell Martin a two-year deal - two years! - even though we had no catcher. Two moments in the annals of billionaire cheapness.)  

Well, Sale is done, and Moncada is an emerging White Sox star. If we had signed Moncada and traded him for Sale - in that alt-universe - we would today be tearing out our hair, having lost our ace. Then again, we'd have that ring to cherish, instead of the most fruitless decade in Yankee history... now leading into, well, what?

No parties today. Just numbness.