Phillies' Rival Braves Acquires Ace

The Philadelphia Phillies have been a thorn in the side of the Atlanta Braves during the past two playoffs, despite the success that their rivals have had during the regular season.

There was a chance the Braves could have delivered a major blow to the Phillies this offseason, as they were interested in signing free agent Aaron Nola.

Instead, he re-signed with Philadelphia and caused Atlanta to look for pitching upgrades elsewhere.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, that came via trade with the Boston Red Sox as they send superstar pitcher, Chris Sale, to the Braves in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom and cash considerations.

Sale has been one of the game's best starters when healthy, boasting a career ERA of 3.10 with a 120-80 record. From 2013-18, he was an All-Star every single year, while also finishing Top-5 in AL Cy Young voting.

He's been limited since his Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss the entire 2020 season. He's only started 31 games since 2019.

If Atlanta can get the elite version of Sale, it will be a very difficult rotation for the Phillies to deal with. Giving up only Grissom, who was their No. 7 overall prospect in 2022, keeps the Braves' roster in tact as still one of the best baseball.

The utility infielder has played in 64 career games and has a slash line of .287/.339/.407 with five homers and 27 RBI.

The Red Sox will also be paying $17 million of Sale's $27.5 million salary in 2024 according to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.

After it looked like Philadelphia was content with their move of re-signing Nola, they might feel some more pressure to add another arm after this move from their division rival.