Once again, Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale dominated on the mound on Wednesday night. After a two hour rain delay, the 36 year-old came out and shoved against the Nationals eight scoreless innings in the Braves' 5-0 extra inning win in Washington. At this point, Atlanta fans have come to expect that when Sale is on the mound, he is going to give the Braves a great chance to win every single time. However, those lofty expectations didn't always exist.
When the Braves first traded for Sale before the 2024 season, there was a healthy amount of skepticism. No one denied that Sale had the ability to be dominant, but at issue back then was the fact that Sale was older and he had a very lengthy history of injuries that had seemingly sapped him of his effectiveness.
A couple seasons later, and despite a broken rib that cost him a big chunk of the 2025 season, it is clear that not only did the Braves win the trade with the Red Sox. In fact, that deal is looking more and more like one of the bigger bargains of the last couple of years.
Braves' side of the Chris Sale Chris Sale's latest gem a reminder of insane bargain price Braves paid to acquire him
"Bargain" can mean a lot of things and depending on how you look at it, there are better "values" out there in MLB right now than Sale. Paul Skenes has made a pittance in terms of salary comparatively from the Pirates since joining the league (although one suspects he is doing rather well for himself with endorsements and other non-salary deals), but it did require Pittsburgh to use a first overall pick on him which, in itself, is insanely valuable.
However, when it comes to adding an established veteran to one's roster, the Sale deal is tough to beat. To get Sale, the Braves simply had to send infielder Vaughn Grissom to Boston and pay roughly $10.5 million of his $27.5 million salary for 2024. Immediately after acquiring Sale, Atlanta went ahead and gave him a two-year extension worth $38 million including a $18 million option for 2026.
Since that point, Sale won a Cy Young and would have been in the running for another one had he not gotten hurt earlier this year. As for the Red Sox, they did save some money that helped them make some payroll space, but they did little with that space before the 2024 season. As for Grissom, he has played a total of 31 (not good) games in the majors and he has sounded off on the Red Sox more than once for not giving him a better opportunity.
Given the current prices for top end pitching, it is wild that Atlanta did as well as they did in getting Sale. Not only was the price in the trade insanely cheap, but the Braves were able to lock him on a very reasonable extension that he has more than earned. Once you factor everything in, there are precious few better bargains in all of baseball at this point.