I get it. Watching him throw makes my arm hurt.

But the smoking metaphor is still the cure for all the fake science of mechanics analysis.

-Smoking is a cause of lung cancer
-Some people smoke their whole lives and don't get lung cancer
-Some people never smoke and still get lung cancer

It's also worth pointing out that Tommy John is now kind of an expected part of the career trajectory for most pitchers. So unless Sale does something apocalyptic to his joints, I don't think missing a season to recover from TJ really says anything about him that it wouldn't also say about somebody like Dylan Bundy and his perfect mechanics: that pitching any particular way isn't as notably responsible for arm injuries as simply pitching.