LAS VEGAS -- Though the Red Sox never gave much explanation about the root of the left shoulder inflammation that kept Chris Sale on the disabled list for most of August and a big chunk of September, the ace isn't considered to be a health concern this winter.
"He's throwing," said Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. "He needs nothing else as far as medical is concerned."
Sale was last seen throwing a slider so nasty that Manny Machado wound up with one knee in the dirt as he whiffed feebly at the final pitch of the World Series.

Dombrowski is confident Sale will be a full go in 2019.
"We have a pulse of it, but we're really not going to discuss it," said Dombrowski. "We have a real pulse of what took place."
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The reason the Red Sox don't want to provide details is because that is Sale's preference.
"Chris is an individual who is great, and we feel comfortable with him and all that, but he's not one that likes to share a bunch of information," said Dombrowski. "That's just the way it is, but we feel very comfortable where he is and he just wants to keep it between us."
The Red Sox have a plan to help Sale stay healthy in 2019. Perhaps part of it will be asking Sale to throttle it back with his velocity at times.
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"He's good at 95 [mph] with that slider, too," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "We know what we have. We know what we're going to do next year. I think we took care of him, and he knows it. [Trainer] Brad [Pearson] and Chris talked about it and they know next year, like Dave said, we have a pulse of the situation."