Red Sox trade Chris Sale to Atlanta Braves for Vaughn Grissom
BOSTON - The Boston Red Sox have traded pitcher Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom.
Grissom, 22, has been with the Braves since 2022. He made his Major League debut at Fenway Park in August of that year, where he hit a two-run home run over the Green Monster.
Sale, 34, joined the Red Sox via trade in 2017, and finished in the top-four of Cy Young voting in each of his first two seasons in Boston. He helped the team to a World Series title in 2018 despite battling a shoulder injury in the second half of the season.
Despite concerns about his elbow and shoulder, Boston signed Sale to a five-year, $145 million extension in March of 2019. He battled an array of injuries through the rest of his Red Sox tenure, and missed all of the 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Last season, Sale started 20 games and went 6-5 with a 4.30 ERA for Boston. The Red Sox are paying $17 million of Sale's $27.5 million salary for the 2024 season.
Boston chief baseball officer Craig Breslow believes the team has found their everyday second baseman in Grissom, who was considered one of Atlanta's top prospects. While he played just 23 games at the Major League level in 2023, Grissom hit .330 with eight homers, 61 RBIs, and 74 runs scored for Triple-A Gwinnet.