Nine months ago, the Boston Red Sox made arguably their most surprising move of the offseason in trading away starting pitcher Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom. It marked the first major — and most aggressive — move of Craig Breslow’s debut as chief baseball officer and produced some unforeseen results.
Breslow, looking back following the organization’s third consecutive postseason swing-and-miss and the fifth in the last six seasons, offered an honest admission of the swap.
“I think the framework, at the time, was sound,” Breslow said on NESN’s “310 To Left” podcast. “… That was a decision that was made with the longer-term focus in mind as much as 2024. It absolutely hurts that Chris Sale was not pitching the way that he had all season in a Red Sox uniform this year and it’s really easy to play the ‘what if’ game. I think we have to evaluate the process, evaluate the decision that it did and also recognize we are now in a different moment in time. And exclusively looking at the future is not something that we should be prepared to do as we embark on this offseason heading into 2025. Otherwise, I think fans would be rightfully frustrated with this continued push-off into the future (of) the window of contention.”
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Sale and Grissom went opposite directions to begin their stints in Atlanta and Boston, respectively. Sale turned back the clock, returning to his old All-Star form in a Braves uniform by going 18-3 — tied for the most wins in MLB — with a 2.38 ERA — the best of any pitcher in baseball in 2024. The 35-year-old buried the injury-prone concerns that followed him out of Boston and surged back to an ace-caliber pitcher. Grissom, however, battled the injured list throughout Year 1 with the Red Sox and was limited to just 31 appearances and 105 at-bats.
In hindsight, the trade worked out tremendously for the Braves but realistically, the Red Sox had cause to shop the veteran southpaw. Sale’s struggles to stay healthy were a constant dent throughout his final five seasons in Boston — a stretch where Sale logged 56 appearances. The Red Sox patiently awaited the return of Sale, yet couldn’t pass up an opportunity to add a promising young infielder in Grissom, who had no place for growth in Atlanta, to join the uprising core of homegrown talents in Boston.
Future was the ultimate determining factor that guided Sale to Atlanta and Grissom to Boston. Therefore, time is still favoring the Red Sox. The team has a full offseason ahead to follow up on last offseason’s work to get the franchise back on track to its contending ways before Opening Day next year.