Chris Sale: A Bargain or a Burden?

Is Chris Sale worth the price the Braves paid for him?

It has been 24 hours since the Atlanta Braves announced the trade with the Boston Red Sox that sent Vaughn Grissom to Boston and brought Chris Sale to Atlanta. I have had some time to think about the trade and read what my colleagues have had to say about it which helped gather my thoughts. Here is the conclusion I have come to.

First off, as you have seen in the title, any chance that I see to make a pun about the name "Sale", I will be using it. Let's get into it: is Chris Sale a bargain for the Braves, or a burden?

Let's start by taking a look at Sale's remaining contract. Sale is owed $27.5M for the 2024 season, but there are a couple of caveats to that. The Red Sox are sending over $17M to help the Braves cover that contract which cuts the cost down to $10.5M. Along with that, $10M of his contract is deferred to 2035. That means the Braves are only on the hook for $500K this year.

$500K for a seven-time All-Star and a pitcher that finished in the top six of the AL Cy Young race for seven years in a row? That is a bargain. Put a checkmark beside that one. Now, onto the conversation about whether he will be a burden for the Braves.

What would make Sale a burden? The same thing that has plagued him in Boston from 2020-2022. Injuries.

Injuries ended the dominance Sale displayed while finishing within the top six in balloting for the American League Cy Young Award seven straight seasons (2012-18). The 34-year-old lefty underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020 and battled both a rib fracture and right wrist fracture during the '22 campaign. He totaled just 11 starts from 2020-22. - MLB.com

When Sale is healthy, he is one of the best pitchers in the MLB. There is no doubt about that. He has only made 11 starts in the past three seasons, though. Alex Anthopoulos likes to take risks on pitchers - remember Cole Hamels? We don't want another one of those incidents. 

(Ed note: Hamels faced 14 batters for the Braves in 2020, allowed three of them to score, and got paid $18M for it.) 

The Braves had the best record in the MLB last season but there was one huge issue that affected the team during the season: a lot of injuries to starting pitchers and relief pitchers. Signing Sale is like compounding a problem that already existed. AA talked about pursuing a pitcher that we would have contractual control over for a while and an arm that would be dependable. Chris Sale is neither of those. He has one year (plus a team option) left on his contract and has not been dependable in the slightest. Yet, we are still swinging for the fences.

The burden of Sale is, if he gets injured during the season, we are right back to square one. If we lose Sale, Morton, and Fried to injuries at different points of the season, we will be in trouble once again. IF Sale can stay healthy, it will be worth the whole contract and more. This could be the best starting rotation in baseball if he stays healthy. There are a lot of ifs, ands, and buts in the scenario, but I believe it was worth it.

In the end, the Braves got one of the best-starting pitchers in the MLB and all they had to give up for him was Vaughn Grissom, a player that I like, but he was the odd man out on our roster. He was only going to be a bench player for us but in Boston, he can be an everyday player. AA did not have to give up AJ Smith-Shawver, Bryce Elder, or Hurston Waldrep to get Sale. This trade was a win-win for both teams. 

Chris Sale can be the perfect guy to bridge the gap between the current Atlanta Braves and the future of the Braves.

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