The Braves made their biggest splash of the offseason over the holidays, swinging a trade for seven-time All-Star Chris Sale before the new year.
In return, Boston received Vaughn Grissom, a relatively stiff price to pay for a pitcher who has totaled just 31 starts and 151.0 innings since the start of the 2021 campaign. However, the Braves are betting on the upside of Sale, who still possesses some of the best strikeout stuff in the majors. That ability was on full display once he returned from the IL for nine starts to end the season, a topic the newest member of the Braves broadcast booth CJ Nitkowski discussed following the trade on MLB Network Radio.
“Obviously, you have all the injury concerns with Chris Sale, but he finished the season really strong. In those last two months, he pitched well. The last two months from a batting average, from a swing-and-miss standpoint, he was a top 10 pitcher over his last nine starts. I get it, he wasn’t going deep in games, nobody is going to ask him to do that. They’re going to ask him to be a five innings, six innings pitcher on the high end with this offense and bullpen behind him in Atlanta.”
Nitkowski hit the nail on the head. Sale possesses absurd upside, and while the injuries have hindered his availability, they have not yet taken a hit on the stuff. The guy can still be elite, and with all the depth on the pitching staff, there will be no reason to push any of the Braves top arms any more than they have to.
The entire focus of the Braves offseason has been apparent from the beginning. The depth of their pitching staff has been a problem. They’ve addressed that by adding a ton of high upside relief arms and now acquiring Chris Sale. On top of that, the Braves were able to accomplish that without risking too much. They didn’t hand out a long-term contract they were uncomfortable with, and while Vaughn Grissom has a lot of upside, he had also become expendable because there was nowhere to play him.
More must-reads: