Braves' risk with extension for seven-time All-Star could reap big rewards
The Atlanta Braves signed starting pitcher Chris Sale to a two-year, $38M contract extension on Thursday, less than one week after acquiring the southpaw in a trade with the Boston Red Sox.
The deal comes with some risk, as Sale's career filled with seven All-Star honors, an AL Cy Young runner-up finish and a World Series title also includes an array of injuries. Sale will also turn 35 just two days after the Braves open up their 2024 regular season.
Atlanta is willing to overlook some of the red flags that may have caused other teams to swing a deal for the 2010 first-round pick, however. They also won't be paying the full $38M to Sale, due to the terms of last week's trade that saw the Red Sox land promising young infielder Vaughn Grissom.
Unlike much of his tenures with both the Red Sox and Chicago White Sox, the lanky lefty won't need to be the ace of the Braves starting rotation. Atlanta already has All-Star flamethrower Spencer Strider and 2022 All-Star and NL Cy Young runner-up Max Fried pacing the unit, as well as veteran Charlie Morton and others.
As reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan though, Fried will become a free agent after 2024 and may get a deal "in excess of" $200M, a number "unlikely to fit in the Braves' budget." Additionally, Passan writes that Morton (who is 40), "could retire."
Since their 2021 World Series title, the Braves have posted back-to-back 100-plus win regular seasons, including a league-best 104 in 2023. They've lost in the NLDS in two consecutive years though, and with a lineup that scored the most runs in MLB last season (947) featuring NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr., the addition of Sale could go a long way to another appearance in the Fall Classic.
Sale's run of seven straight All-Star honors ended in 2018 and he hasn't returned to the Midsummer Classic since then. Sale also hasn't made more than 27 starts or pitched more than 158 innings since the 2017 campaign.
Months after closing out Boston's 2018 World Series championship, he signed a five-year, $145M contract extension with the club, but that's when his career took a turn for the worse. Sale went 6-11 with a career-worst 4.40 ERA in 2019 and missed the 2020 pandemic-altered season as well as 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.
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