Red Sox offseason trade with Braves continues to backfire
In 24 hours, the Boston Red Sox lost their offseason trade of starting pitcher Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves again.
On Sunday, the Red Sox placed infielder Vaughn Grissom on the injured list for the second time this season.
On Monday, Sale won the National League Pitcher of the Month for May, continuing what has been a dominant start to his age-35 campaign.
Boston sent its longtime ace left-hander and cash to Atlanta in exchange for Grissom in late December. The Braves signed Sale to a two-year, $38M deal on Jan. 4, less than one week after the trade.
Sale looks to be headed for his eighth All-Star honor, but first since 2018. He made two Midsummer Classics during his seven years in Beantown, added an AL Cy Young runner-up finish in 2017 and a World Series title in 2018.
An array of injuries in recent seasons temporarily derailed Sale’s career, as he hasn’t made more than 27 starts or pitched more than 158 innings since 2017. Monday’s honor was his first Pitcher of the Month award since July 2018.
Months after closing out Boston’s 2018 World Series championship, the 2010 first-round pick signed a five-year, $145M contract extension with the club. Sale then went 6-11 with a career-worst 4.40 ERA in 2019, missed the 2020 pandemic-altered season and most of 2021 following Tommy John surgery.
He made only two starts during the 2022 season due to back issues, a broken finger and a broken wrist, but bounced back somewhat in 2023. Sale finished last year 6-5 with a 4.30 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 125 strikeouts over 102 2/3 innings pitched covering 20 starts.
The lanky hurler leads the senior circuit this season with just 1.3 walks per nine innings, is third in WHIP (0.95), fourth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9) and fifth in strikeouts (82).
With 2023 All-Star Spencer Strider shelved for the rest of the year, Sale has stepped up big time, leading the team with an 8-1 record as well as in WHIP, strikeouts, innings pitched (67 2/3) and other categories while posting a 3.06 ERA.
Grissom, meanwhile, has hardly contributed in his 23 games with the Red Sox.
The 23-year-old opened the spring on the injured list due to a groin issue and has gone just 12-for-81 with no home runs and three RBI thus far.
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