Chris Sale: Braves Trade "Crazy" But Has Led To Stellar Performance

MIAMI — Chris Sale placed his fist in a ball over his mouth and cracked a smile.

He can finally do that now.

There were times when even forcing a grin out of himself felt difficult. Too difficult. Too dangerous, almost. Smiling didn't fit the place he was in mentally and, really, physically. The injuries in Boston. The underperformance. The endless cycle of trying to feel like himself again. All of it swelled within his 6-foot-6 gangly frame.

So when Sale looked back on the 2023 offseason trade that sent infielder Vaughn Grissom to Boston and offered him a renewal in Atlanta, the laugh came easier.

"I can say it now, because Alex and I have a great relationship," Sale said of Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos. "I was like, 'Is someone gonna give this guy a drug test? Has he not seen me the last few years?'"

"I had a few people ask me the same question," Anthopoulos joked.

Chris Sale ATL • SP • #51

ERA 1.89 WHIP .87 IP 62 BB 14 K 72 View Profile

Yet Anthopoulos still carries the instincts of a traditional scout. There are moments that pull him toward a player even when the metrics caution otherwise. When the injuries suggest a player is beyond his prime. When logic says the best version is already gone.

In Sale's case, it had been since 2018 that he truly looked dominant. Tommy John surgery and multiple bone fractures swallowed much of the next five seasons in Boston. Still, Anthopoulos remained drawn to him, even after Boston's front office transitioned from Chaim Bloom to Craig Breslow .

"I even told our chairman, Terry McGuirk, 'We're gonna get criticized for this one,'" Anthopoulos said. "We were trading for a 34-year-old at the time who had a lot of injuries."

The criticism didn't last long.

What feels like the third act of Sale's career quickly turned into one of his finest stretches.

He immediately captured a Cy Young Award in 2024 and made his first All-Star team since 2018. He was strong across 20 starts last season. Now, at 37 years old, Sale owns a 1.89 ERA through 10 starts for an Atlanta club sprinting through the National League East with a 35-16 record, the best mark in baseball nearly two months into the season.

In his most recent outing Wednesday, Sale looked every bit like the overpowering ace Boston once envisioned when it acquired him nearly a decade ago.

Redemptive stories happen in sports all the time. Most just don't arrive this quickly.

Sale's did.

But the immediacy of the turnaround shouldn't erase the endurance required to reach it.

The perspective to live in the moment. To sit with it. To savor what he's now experiencing, because in truth, Sale thought he was done. He thought it was over. That he would get traded and simply ride out whatever remained of his contract.

"I'm really hard on myself, and I took all those injuries hard," Sale said. "Like, really, it was not fun for me. So I finally said, 'Man, if you make four more starts in your life, enjoy them and give everything you have. If you make 104 more starts, enjoy them and appreciate that you have them.'"

Much like his quick tempo on the mound, the old Sale moved through life just as fast. Catching him for a casual conversation around Fenway Park often felt like trying to flag down someone already late for his next destination. He kept moving. Head down. Mind elsewhere.

But now, stillness has become part of his repertoire. It fits his disposition much like his patented back-foot slider.

So he sits at his locker more now, much like he did Monday afternoon at LoanDepot Park before Atlanta's series against the Marlins .

Because sometimes slowing down sharpens the picture. The thoughts travel cleaner. The journey feels less like survival and more like something worth reflecting on.

It's not necessarily a new beginning anymore for Sale.

But it's a reminder of one.

"The way Boston is right now, it's no secret they're not the same team," said teammate and starter Martín Pérez, who also played alongside Sale in Boston. "You can see things are different now. Less pressure from the media. Less pressure from the city. I'm not saying Boston wasn't good to him. But sometimes in life, change is good."

Brave new world

Chris Sale's stats during his first three seasons with the Braves

Season ERA WHIP K/9

2024

2.38

1.013

11.4

2025

2.58

1.066

11.8

2026

1.59

0.871

10.5

Let's not get it twisted, though. Expectations still come with this.

Atlanta isn't Miami. The history for the Braves is rich. Not just for the franchise itself, but for baseball as a whole. The Braves still carry championship expectations every season because the roster is loaded enough to demand it.

Injuries hit them hard early this year. They didn't matter much.

They still found ways to dominate.

And Sale has been at the heart of it all. Their tone-setter. Their stabilizer. One of the biggest reasons this thing keeps moving.

"He's important, but I would say he's more important for the example [in the clubhouse]," Anthopoulos said. "When you get Chris Sale here, he can check everybody in a room. I can tell you from a general manager's perspective, it's incredibly valuable."

Whether the Braves capture their second World Series title in six years remains to be seen.

But Anthopoulos' gamble -- one rooted more in instinct and conviction than clean projections -- has already been validated.

And in the process, Sale hasn't just revived his career. He's strengthened the résumé of a pitcher who, once all of this is over, will almost certainly find himself in Cooperstown.

"I feel like I'm really enjoying where I'm at," Sale said. "I feel like I'm having a lot of fun playing baseball. Anything else that comes with that is great, and I appreciate it, but for me it's like I've seen it all gone like that."

Sale's no longer fighting for his spot back in the sport. No longer bracing for the possibility that the game might not end on his terms.

Maybe now, it will.

Maybe he'll finally get the sendoff every player dreams about, but few actually receive.

That's a reason to smile.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/chris-sale-braves-crazy-trade/)._