Chris Sale Details Reasons for Approving Trade From Red Sox to Braves

He felt he owed the Red Sox a chance to improve the team.

Pitcher Chris Sale got a significant upgrade in his baseball accommodations last week, getting traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Atlanta Braves. 

The 13-year veteran goes from a Red Sox club that won 78 games and finished fifth in the AL East last season to a Braves team that compiled the best record in MLB with 104 wins. Sale also received a two-year, $38 million contract extension from Atlanta with a club option for the 2026 season. 

So the benefits for Sale in the deal are obvious. He’ll pitch for a much better team that will contend for a World Series championship while getting paid an extra $18 million in guaranteed salary. 

However, Sale also felt that he was helping a Red Sox organization that’s been very good to him and his family by accepting the trade, as he explained to the Boston Globe’s Conor Ray.

Sale could have vetoed a deal to the Braves with the no-trade clause in his contract :: David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports

“I felt like this was an opportunity to put me in a situation to help myself and put [the Red Sox] in a situation to help them, too,” he explained. “I felt like I kind of owed them something because the last few years haven’t quite lived up to what I wanted to be there. It was in favor to both parties.”

The Red Sox have a rebuilding project ahead with new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. In addition to financial relief, trading Sale also yielded a possible future cornerstone with infielder Vaughn Grissom. 

Sale could have vetoed the deal with his no-trade clause. But perhaps he felt it was time to move on after seven years with the Red Sox, as well. He was part of a World Series championship team in 2018, which means he’ll always be royalty in Boston. For Sale and the Red Sox, it’s probably better to keep the memories positive.