Trade Grades: Red Sox Trade Chris Sale To The Braves
Now that the dust has settled on the Chris Sale trade, let’s hand out some grades. Sale is on his way to Atlanta. Vaughn Grissom is heading to Boston. Which team won the trade? Let’s get right to it.
Braves: Grade – B
I’m giving the Braves a solid B for this trade. The positive here is that Boston ate a good chunk of the money. Sale will earn just $10 million in 2024. The Braves do hold a club option for $20 million for 2025. That option likely won’t be picked up unless Sale pitches out of his mind.
On the surface, you understand why Atlanta made this deal. Orlando Arcia has stolen the job at shortstop. Ozzie Albies is obviously your second baseman. Grissom likely would have been a platoon option in left field with newly acquired Jarred Kelenic. Is that really the best use of Grissom?
Instead, the Braves cash in Grissom for a lethal lefty arm. It makes sense to go down this avenue. The only reason I’m not giving the Braves any higher than a B is because of those health concerns.
Are the Braves actually going to be smart about this? If they think Sale is just going to make 30 starts and be part of the everyday rotation, that’s an epic mistake. It won’t work. If Atlanta goes about it the right way and uses Sale as a multi-inning reliever picking certain matches, this could be a match made in heaven. That part, however, remains unknown.
Red Sox: Grade – A-
It’s hard to hate this move from a Red Sox perspective. Craig Breslow made it pretty clear that Grissom is going to be the starting second baseman. It’s hard to believe the Sox even got a player like this in return for Sale. It was time to move on, they were never going to pick up the option for next year, and we’re talking about a guy that made 31 total starts the last four years.
The pure ceiling of Grissom will make or break this deal. You can tell by the way Alex Anthopoulos spoke that this was not a young player they wanted to give up on. Grissom has already shown he can hit for contact at a high level. It’s a matter of if the power will come as he continues to develop. Big body and all of the minor league hitting numbers are encouraging. Will the bat add any power? If it does, this is a home run deal for Boston.
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