Following the announcement of the transaction sending the great left-hander Chris Sale to Atlanta, I wondered what the added value would be for this fragile and often injured athlete in the Braves' entourage.
Additionally, Alex Anthopoulos sent promising young Vaughn Grissom to Boston to get veteran Sale. Already well endowed on the mound, did the Braves need Sale's arm to aspire to great honors?
According to Braves general manager Anthopoulos, this addition is the perfect missing piece his team needed to take full advantage of the window of opportunity that opened a few years ago.
Sale, 34, will support Charlie Morton, another veteran, in a mentoring role to the young stars of the rotation.
Spencer Strider, Max Fried and Bryce Elder are all excellent, but they still lack playoff experience and the addition of Sale should make up for that gap.
To reach the World Series in 2024, the Braves will inevitably have to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in order to represent the National at the great fall classic and Alex Anthopoulos needed to add a veteran of the caliber of Chris Sale to hope to get there, but he had to let go of a very good young player to succeed in his plan.
The lanky Sale pitched more than 100 innings in 2023, for the first time since 2019. Under the guidance of Alex Cora, he worked 102 and two-thirds innings while striking out a total of 125 batters. . However, his earned run average was disappointing at 4.30.
In Atlanta, he will be better supported in attack and will be able to count on a better defense than in Boston.
For his part, the big man of the Braves is very proud of his move and praises the leadership qualities of his new acquisition. Anthopoulos calls Sale the perfect teammate from whom young people will learn to become better professionals.
The one who enjoys a 120-80 record in thirteen seasons in the Majors is already in preparation mode for the new season and says he is very happy to join the Atlanta Braves organization.
The Braves rotation will be better in 2024, provided that Sale remains healthy and is in good enough shape in October to prove his new boss right.
