Red Sox paying crazy amount for Sale to play for Braves

The Boston Crimson Sox actually sweetened the pot for the Atlanta Braves to take Chris Sale off their arms.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic shared some attention-grabbing particulars this week about the big trade that just sent Sale from Boston to Atlanta. Rosenthal reveals that the Braves pays Sale a mere $500K of the $27.5M he’s owed in wage subsequent season. 

The Crimson Sox, in the meantime, shall be footing the invoice for $17M (with the opposite $10M deferred till 2039). Rosenthal describes the deal as a “monetary coup” for the Braves.

For Boston, although they nonetheless must pay Sale most of what he’s owed, they’re successfully slashing $10M in payroll (serving to them keep below the aggressive steadiness tax). In addition they get a gifted younger infielder in Vaughn Grissom for his or her troubles. 

For Atlanta, a workforce primarily strapped out on money subsequent season, they obtain a top quality middle-of-the-rotation starter for mere pennies (albeit one with important damage threat).

Sale, a seven-time All-Star, will flip 35 in March and has pitched simply 151 whole innings since 2019 attributable to varied illnesses (together with Tommy John surgical procedure in 2020 and a stress response in his shoulder in 2023). 

However on the value the Braves are getting him for, it ought to be a threat properly value taking (particularly since Sale has a $20M membership possibility for 2025 which the Braves can decline if it doesn’t work out).