Newly acquired LHP Chris Sale has signed a 2 year extension with the Atlanta Braves in a show of confidence that the towering lefty’s injury woes are hopefully behind him.
Less than a week after the Braves sent infielder Vaughn Grissom to Boston in exchange for Sale, the 34 year old inked a new 2 year, $38M contract with the reigning NL East champions. The deal, which features an $18M club option for 2026 will also erase any previous deferred payments included in Sale’s previous contract.
Sale will be owed $16M in 2024 and $22M in 2025, with the 2026 club option giving Atlanta a viable “out” if the pitcher’s injury woes rear their ugly head once again. Because Boston sent $17M in cash alongside Sale to Atlanta in the Grissom trade, the Braves essentially get a “free look” at their new starter this season.
“We feel like this is the first normal offseason he will have had in a long time,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said following the trade. “But at the same time, he’s still coming off just a hundred innings pitched last year, so we’ll be mindful of that. We don’t put limits on any of our starters, but we do take it day by day if guys need to skip a bullpen or need extra days between starts.”
After helping to guide Boston to a World Series title in 2018, Sale’s career saw several injury related setbacks of both the baseball and off field variety. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020, the Lakeland, FL native battled a rib fracture, wrist fracture, and a stress reaction in his left scapula. All those injuries limited Sale to just 31 starts since the end of the 2019 campaign.
A 7x All-Star, Sale is Major League Baseball’s fastest pitcher to record 1,500 strikeouts, 2,000 strikeouts, and also is co-owner of the most “immaculate innings” pitched alongside Sandy Koufax & Max Scherzer with 3 apiece.
After watching the Dodgers add several arms, plus Shohei Ohtani in the offseason, Atlanta knew they had to act quickly. And with no clear path to regular at bats for Grissom, the talented prospect became expendable. If Sale is able to put together a somewhat healthy season, then Anthopoulos’ gamble will have paid off in spades.
When healthy, Sale is a perennial Cy Young candidate, who’s overpowering arsenal can keep even the most potent of lineups at bay. While his velocity and control has been a concern in recent years, his career 11.1 K/9 rate remains the best in MLB history.
The 6’6″ lefty is expected to join a rotation that features Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Bryce Elder when the Braves break camp in the spring. With a potent offense, and no glaring positional needs, Atlanta is poised to take a run at another NL East title this summer.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.