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The Braves and Purple Sox have agreed to a significant commerce, as Chris Sale will head to Atlanta in alternate for infield prospect Vaughn Grissom, ESPN’s Jeff Passan experiences. The Sox will even embrace $17MM within the deal to assist cowl Sale’s $27.5MM wage for the 2024 season, as per the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. Sale had a full no-trade clause that he has waived to facilitate the transfer.
The shocking transfer ends Sale’s tumultuous run in Boston after seven years and 6 seasons, as Sale missed the entire 2020 marketing campaign. After buying Sale as a part of a blockbuster cope with the White Sox in December 2016, Sale pitched brilliantly in his first two seasons in Boston, twice ending within the high 4 in AL Cy Younger Award voting and enjoying a giant function within the Purple Sox capturing the 2018 World Sequence.
Since 2019 was the final yr of Sale’s earlier contract, the Purple Sox have been aggressive in locking up their ace, signing him to a five-year, $145MM extension protecting the 2020-24 seasons, with a $20MM membership choice for the 2025 marketing campaign. Sadly, this extension has confirmed to be a giant misfire, as Sale began to run into harm issues even late within the 2018 marketing campaign. He was shut down in August 2019 with elbow irritation and obtained a PRP injection, but that elbow problem was solely the harbinger for the Tommy John surgical procedure that price Sale his complete 2020 season and most of his 2021 marketing campaign.
The unhealthy harm luck continued during the last two seasons, as Sale was sidelined by a big selection of maladies together with a stress response in his ribs, a fractured finger, a damaged wrist (suffered in a bicycle accident), and a stress response in his shoulder blade. Sale tossed solely 48 1/3 innings whole in 2021-22, whereas rebounding to some extent to pitch 102 2/3 frames final season.
Sale’s 93.9mph fastball velocity in 2023 barely topped his profession common, whereas his strikeout, stroll, and hard-hit ball charges have been all effectively above the league common. Whereas he could by no means get again to his early-career type, Sale’s 2023 efficiency not less than indicated that he nonetheless has an excellent deal left within the tank as he enters his age-35 season, supplied that he can simply keep on the sector.
That is precisely what the Braves are relying on from Sale as a 3rd or perhaps a fourth starter, behind Max Fried, Spencer Strider, and Charlie Morton within the crew’s rotation. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is counting in Sale’s upside to bolster the pitching employees, and Atlanta’s assortment of youthful arms (AJ Smith-Shawver, Dylan Dodd, Huascar Ynoa, Darius Vines, and high prospect Hurston Waldrep) and swingman Reynaldo Lopez can present additional depth ought to Sale or anybody else within the rotation want time on the injured listing.
In typical Anthopoulos trend, this specific commerce got here out of nowhere, even when the Braves have been recognized to be on the lookout for some pitching assist. Atlanta made a powerful large for Aaron Nola earlier than he re-signed with the Phillies, and such free agent and commerce targets as Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Stop, Sonny Grey, and Seth Lugo have been additionally linked to the Braves on the rumor mill.
If Sale had been a free agent, a one-year, $10.5MM deal would’ve been an inexpensive or perhaps a slight discount value for a pitcher along with his monitor file. It may maybe be argued that the Braves may need been higher off discovering such a pitcher on the free agent market slightly than commerce away a promising younger participant like Grissom, however it is usually honest to argue that such a rotation improve wasn’t obtainable at a $10.5MM price ticket. Or, dealing for a pitcher like Stop, Corbin Burnes, Shane Bieber, or different still-available commerce candidates would possibly’ve price Atlanta lot greater than solely Grissom.
Extra to come back….
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