Dr. James Andrews gave Red Sox ace Chris Sale some good news for the holidays.

Andrews has cleared Sale to begin throwing with the goal of participating in Spring Training, Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told WEEI Radio in Boston. Sale visited Andrews last week in Pensacola, Fla., and received the green light in a follow-up evaluation stemming from the PRP injection Sale received in his left pitching elbow back in August. Sale threw his last pitch on Aug. 13 before he was shut down for the remainder of the season with elbow inflammation.

“The rehab has gone very well and Chris is right where we want him to be,” Red Sox general manager Brian O’Halloran said at last month’s General Managers Meetings.

The 2020 season marks the first of the five-year, $145 million extension that Sale signed in March. He finished 2019 with a 6-11 record and a 4.40 ERA in one of the toughest seasons of his career.