Less than 24 hours after agreeing to sign free agent righty Lucas Giolito, the Red Sox have made a shocking trade involving their starting rotation.
Boston has traded lefty Chris Sale and cash considerations to the Braves in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom, a source confirmed Saturday. ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who first reported the deal, notes that Sale waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the trade. The deal is official.
An important factor in the deal was, as a source said Saturday, that the Red Sox are covering a “good amount” of Sale’s $27.5 million salary for 2024. The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier pegs that number at is $17 million. The move gives the Red Sox a significant amount of savings ($8.6 million for competitive balance tax purposes) while netting them a highly regarded young infielder in Grissom, who is likely to take over at second base on a full-time basis and has six years of control remaining.
A trade involving Sale didn’t seem particularly likely before the winter because the Red Sox wanted to add rotation help, not subtract it. Ultimately, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said Saturday night, the deal with the Braves made too much sense not to pursue.
“Anytime you trade someone like Sale, who has made such a meaningful contribution to this organization and was obviously an incredibly important part of a World Series winning team, it’s a really tough decision,” Breslow said. “The fact that I wasn’t the chief baseball officer here (during Sale’s prime) didn’t diminish that in my mind at all. So it’s something that I was very mindful of and very thoughtful of, but in the end, I felt like this was the decision that was best for the Red Sox both in the near term and the long term.”
The move ends an up-and-down tenure in Boston for Sale, who was an All-Star in 2017 and 2018 before injuries derailed the final years of his time with the club. In his first two years after coming over in a blockbuster trade with the White Sox, Sale finished in the top four in American League Cy Young voting twice while posting a 3.08 ERA in 84 starts. The Sox then gave him a five-year, $145 million contract extension before the 2019 season, which was a struggle before ending prematurely due to injury. Due to Tommy John surgery and a series of injuries (some of the freak variety), Sale was limited to just 11 starts from 2020-22. In 2023, he posted a 4.30 ERA and recorded 125 strikeouts in 20 starts but missed two months with a shoulder injury. Manager Alex Cora had named him the team’s Opening Day starter for 2024, though that obviously will no longer be the case.
In 115 starts over seven seasons with the Red Sox, Sale posted a 46-30 record and 3.27 ERA while recording 945 strikeouts in 670 ⅔ innings. His departure leaves a void in what will surely be a different-looking Red Sox rotation in 2023. With Giolito signed, the Sox can pencil him in along with Brayan Bello and a group that includes Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck. The money freed up by trading Sale may also be used to add more rotation help via free agency.
Grissom, 22, has 64 games of major league experience with the Braves since debuting last season. The former 11th-round pick has hit .287 with five homers, 27 RBIs and a .746 OPS as a big leaguer and profiles as Boston’s second baseman of the future.
The right-handed hitting Grissom entered 2022 as the No. 12 prospect in a loaded Braves system with scouts excited about his contact ability and arm strength. He debuted that year and played well — including hitting his first career homer at Fenway Park in August — and spent 2023 bouncing between the majors and Triple-A, where he hit .330 with eight homers, 61 RBIs and a .921 OPS in 102 games. Grissom, who has the ability to play every infield position except first base, was blocked in the majors by Atlanta stalwarts Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia and Austin Riley. He won’t have that problem in Boston where second base is wide open; he projects as the starter there with Enmanuel Valdez, Pablo Reyes and David Hamilton moving down the depth chart.
The unexpected Sale trade fills one hole (second base) for the Red Sox while opening up another in the rotation. The club could use its savings from Sale’s contract ($8.6 million) to increase its aggressiveness in the free agent market for starters or dangle a middle infield prospect (Nick Yorke or Marcelo Mayer) in trade talks involving a controllable starter. There’s also still a chance the club adds to its outfield mix; Teoscar Hernández remains available on the free agent market and the Sox do have interest in him.
As a veteran of more than 10 major league seasons and five with the same club, Sale had a full no-trade clause he had to waive to facilitate the deal. Moving to a ready-made contender like the Braves, who play not too far from his home in southwest Florida, likely appealed to Sale.
“He was quite appreciative and understanding of the position and the opportunity to influence the longer term outlook of this team and the chance to go to a team that’s likely to compete for a World Series championship in the NL,” Breslow said. “I think he would probably say it was bittersweet because the organization has meant so much to him. He had very close relationships with the people here and in fact was very mindful of calling that out.
“Those decisions are never easy. Those conversations are never easy. But I’m super appreciative of the way that Chris approached it.”
The Braves will hold a $20 million club option over Sale for 2025.
