After waiting all winter for Alex Anthopoulos to acquire a starter, Braves Nation learned over the weekend that Atlanta had acquired Chris Sale from the Red Sox thanks to SportsTalkATL.
Later, Jeff Passan of ESPN stated that Vaughn Grissom will be sent to Boston in exchange for the experienced left-handed pitcher. Furthermore, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Sox will pay $17 million of Sale’s $27.5 million compensation for the 2024 campaign.
The veteran starter with the Red Sox had a turbulent tenure in Boston. He was first acquired by the White Sox in the blockbuster trade of 2016. Over his first two seasons at Fenway, he lived up to expectations, finishing in the top four of the AL Cy Young race twice, and he was a key player in the 2018 World Series success.
Sale and the team came to an agreement on a new contract that would have kept him under contract for five more years at a cost of $145 million, covering the 2020–24 season with a $20 million club option in 2025.
Regretfully, the extension didn’t quite work out for either party. Due to his numerous injuries, Sale eventually had Tommy John surgery, which kept him out of action for the majority of 2021 and the whole 2020 campaign. It did not, however, improve. Sale only pitched 48.1 innings in 2021–2022; nonetheless, he was still well enough to toss 102.2 innings in the previous season.
Even while it’s unlikely that he will ever reach the level of that Cy Young-caliber pitcher we saw years ago, the Braves have an experienced veteran starting to enter his 35th season who may still have some left in him.
He doesn’t have to be that front-line starter for the Braves. Behind Max Fried, Spencer Strider, and Charlie Morton, Atlanta needs him to be a third or even fourth option while Huascar Ynoa, Hurston Waldre, A.J. Smith-Shawever, Bryce Elder, and Reynaldo Lopez battle for the last slot in the rotation.
The salary of Sale is a crucial factor to consider in all of this; he will only cost the Braves $500K in 2024 because to $10 million in deferred money included in the Red Sox agreement. It is impossible to find value like that on the free agent market. It’s also possible that the Braves may exercise his $20 million club option in 2025. Sale could essentially replace Charlie Morton the following season for the same money, which is below market for starting pitchers nowadays, if he performs well.
What gave up by the Braves now? What Boston got was a young, potential bat with six years of team control. Grissom will probably start at second base right away and provide the Sox a superior contact hitter. Grissom did not play a prominent part for the major league team in Atlanta after hitting.291/.353/.440 in 156 plate appearances in 2022.
Giving up a guy with the potential to have a lengthy career in this league, like Vaughn Grissom, is difficult. Unfortunately, Grissom had no place with the Braves because to Jarred Kelenic’s acquisition and his incapacity to play shortstop.
Chris Sale is a pitcher that Atlanta acquires at a very reasonable price. He has more fire than almost any starter in the game, a ton of postseason experience, and the ability to potentially give the Braves two seasons’ worth of starts.
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