Red Sox trade Chris Sale to the Braves
The Red Sox traded left-hander Chris Sale and $17 million to the Braves for infielder Vaughn Grissom, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Sale waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the trade to Atlanta.
The move will save Boston $10.5 million ($8.5 million to the CBT) in savings and in the process land a well regarded prospect in Grissom. The new infielder should take over at second base and has six years of team control.
The trade closes the door on Sale’s tenure with Boston that began in 2017. The seven-time All-Star finished second in Cy Young voting in his first year with the club and helped the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series.
Boston gave Sale a five-year extension following the World Series championship.
He would then begin to deal with injuries including Tommy John surgery and freak injuries. Sale was limited to just qq starts from 2020-2022. Last season, he posted a 4.30 ERA and recorded 125 strikeouts in 20 starts, while missing two months of the season with a shoulder injury.
The southpaw made 115 starts with the Red Sox over seven seasons, he posted a 46-30 record with a 3.27 ERA with 945 strikeouts in 670 2/3 innings.
The departure of Sale leaves a void in the rotation but presumably Boston will add another starter or two through free agency or trades. Boston currently has Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck as all options for their rotation right now.
Grissom comes to the Red Sox with six years of team control and should be the second baseman next season. The 22-year-old has hit .287 with five homers, 27 RBIs and a .746 OPS as a big leaguer. He only appeared in 23 MLB games last season, batting .280, but hit .330 with eight home runs, 61 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases in 102 games with Triple A-Gwinnett.
Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique
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Told my wife about the Sox trading Sale. Her immediate reply was, "Who'd
they trade him to, some medical center?"