Chicago Cubs receive message from Braves about ace starting pitcher Chris Sale

During an appearance on 680 The Fan on Wednesday, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said he has no plans to trade anybody, including Sale, before the trade deadline.

He’s considering making a trade for a player in the hopes that it will signal the clubhouse that he’s not giving up on 2025 despite being 10 games back from the New York Mets for first place in the NL East with a 34-39 record.

“No, zero,” Anthopoulos said of his intentions to trade Sale before the deadline. “I’ve seen the speculation. It’s completely ridiculous to me. So, we are not selling, especially someone that has club control beyond the current year,” he said. “Will not happen. I never make definitive statements unless I’m going to stick to them. Once you make definitive statements and then you go back on them, you’re a liar, and you’re done.

“Will not happen. Bold, italicize it, caps. So much so that I’m trying to make a trade now — it’s very hard to make a trade in June–just to signal to everybody that we will not sell. You get to the end of July, and things are completely changed–I guess we would reevaluate, but you’d have to be extreme. We’re built to win. Our expectations are to win. Our expectations are to go for it the entire time.”

Anthopoulos sort of made a definitive statement on Sale, but left himself an out if things “completely” change by the end of July.

Still, Cubs president Jed Hoyer signaled he wants to make a trade sooner rather than later, and it makes no sense for Chicago to wait on the hopes that the 36-year-old will be available for them at the start of August.