The Red Sox’s latest transfer makes the Chris Sale trade an even bigger win for Alex Anthopoulos

You heard it here first. This is breaking news. A complete shock. The Atlanta Braves and Alex Anthopoulos have won a trade.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Atlanta’s front office has been a model of excellence over the past few years. The 2024 season didn’t go according to plan for the Braves, but we can hardly blame this unfathomable injury streak on Anthopoulos. Maybe Atlanta should have done more at the trade deadline, but no front office is perfect. The Braves fan base will have to settle for something close to that.

Before the season, Anthopoulos arranged a rather bold and unexpected trade with the Boston Red Sox, acquiring Chris Sale in exchange for top prospect Vaughn Grissom. The Braves also received a sum of money from Boston. For the Red Sox, it was mostly a contract jettison, but Grissom was expected to make an immediate impact in center field.

Unfortunately, it’s been a challenging season for the 23-year-old. He has a .148 batting average and a rancid .367 OPS in 81 major league ABs. That’s a small sample size. Grissom spent the last month on the IL with a hamstring strain, which is never an easy injury, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt. The kid has plenty of time to figure this out. But with Grissom recently being reassigned to Triple-A, we can probably rule out an impactful 2024 season from the former Braves draft pick.

That’s a shame. Boston is firmly in the wild card race and, don’t look now, but the Red Sox could probably use another top ace on the mound. Preferably a Cy Young candidate. If only there was such a player on the roster…

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Sale was on the decline in Boston, but he has discovered his fountain of youth in Atlanta. With new handles and new strategies on the mound, Sale is arguably the best individual pitcher in the National League this season. He has gone 13-3 with a 2.75 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP in 21 starts, and has 165 strikeouts in 127.2 innings pitched.

If you’re betting on the NL Cy Young race, you’ll likely find Sale at the top of the odds list. It’s been an outstanding season for the eight-time All-Star. What a story it would be for Sale to win his first Cy Young trophy at age 35 when the majority of MLB fans were ready to write him off.

Injuries loom large in the Sale discussion. This is the first time he’s pitched over 100 innings in a single season since 2019, so it’s fair to wonder how sustainable Sale’s performance is. Atlanta has more than just the regular season to worry about. The Braves are aiming for a long playoff run, and depth is already thin. Spencer Strider is out for the season. Max Fried has been on the IL lately. Charlie Morton is 41. Reynaldo Lopez has his own innings concerns. The Braves can’t afford an extended absence from Sale.

Despite all of these concerns, there is no denying the value of what Sale is doing right now. The Braves have turned a backup infielder into the most dominant pitcher in the National League. Grissom has a brilliant career ahead of him—we can’t write an obituary of his career at 23—but chances are Grissom will never match Sale’s current dominance. It’s hard to compare apples to oranges or infielders to pitchers, but if the Braves can get a few years of excellence out of Sale, this trade will go down as a true Anthopoulos masterpiece.