It's hard to decide what's most offensive about Chris Sale channeling the Hulk after a lousy rehab outing on Wednesday in Worcester.
Is it simply the hardo nature of smashing and kicking a hallway flat screen because you're "intense" and need to make sure a bunch of minor leaguers can hear it?
Is it blatantly disrespecting a lower rung of the organization by destroying some property because why else is it there except to serve as an outlet for your rage?
With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams!
SIGN UP HERE Or is it the fact that you're always injured, have only made nine starts since August of 2019, and are now assaulting an inanimate object like an outtake from "Walker, Texas Ranger," even though your team desperately needs you and you're finally on the cusp of a return?
Tomase: Only thing Bello proved is that he's not Pedro
The answer, of course, is all of the above. Sale's sheriff routine is wearing awfully thin, and this latest outburst crosses into the realm of outright caricature. The Red Sox have shown incredible patience with Sale's myriad injuries over the last four years, but patience has its limits and he is exhausting everyone's.
The visual, in case you haven't seen it, is outlandish. Shared on Twitter by NBC 10's Alysha Palumbo, it shows Sale trying to rip the husk of a TV off the wall in the runway outside the dugout. He jumps. He yanks. He twists. He smashes. And finally, ridiculously, he kicks the mangled frame like an angry Gumby.
Considering that he hasn't pitched this year because he broke a rib throwing a bullpen during a lockout Instagram session, it's a terrible look. Sale is fragile, and there's no reason to tempt the baseball gods, especially with the Red Sox down four starters and desperate for the return of their erstwhile ace.
But bad looks have been Sale's stock in trade for a while now, with his demolition tour coming on the heels of a stubborn refusal to address his vaccination status, even though the Red Sox will close the season with Games 157-159 in vaccine-mandated Toronto before potentially playing a three-game wild card series north of the border, too.
Boston Red Sox
Find the latest Boston Red Sox news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Boston.
Sale can say that [expletive] is a story for another day, but considering how much the absence of reliever Tanner Houck has wreaked havoc on two series in Canada now, it is at the very least a question fans and the organization have a right to ask.
Instead, we're subjected to Sale's never-ending stream of tough talk, this pablum about letting his teammates down and being terrible and not earning his money. The quotes sound good in isolation until you realize they're just rote cowboy, a bunch of sound and (especially) fury now meriting little more than eye rolls.
This is not the Sale the Red Sox paid $145 million when there were already major questions about his durability, but it's the Sale they've got. He's certainly not the first player to go medieval on a helpless piece of technology, but as with everything Sale nowadays, there was a performative nature to the outburst that crosses the line from paragon to parody.
Of course Sale smashed a TV after walking five and failing to complete the fourth inning. Of course he blasted his performance as unacceptable. Of course the Red Sox will publicly excuse his behavior, because that's their only option.
But if you're looking for a veteran All-Star to save the rotation, I'd focus my attention on the rehab of right-hander Nathan Eovaldi. Sale will probably return next week, and then how long he lasts before something else crops up is a flip of the coin.
If only opposing hitters had as much reason to fear him as anything that's not bolted down.
