BOSTON — The Red Sox have exercised the 2019 option on ace left-hander Chris Sale.
Sale will earn $15 million in the final season of the five-year contract he signed with the White Sox in 2013. He can become an unrestricted free agent in 2020.
The 2017 AL Cy Young runner-up and a seven-time All-Star, Sale had three strikeouts in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series to close out Boston’s fourth championship in 15 years.
The 29-year-old earned his first playoff victory in Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Yankees. Sale went 12-4 with a 2.11 ERA and 237 strikeouts in 27 regular-season starts in his second season in Boston.
He was among the favorites to win the Cy Young this season before he dealt with shoulder issues down the stretch.