It would be hard to argue that the Boston Red Sox won the Chris Sale trade. Boston dished the eight-time All-Star to the Atlanta Braves in Dec. 2023 in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom and neither player has posted the season fans expected.
Sale is in the middle of his best season since 2018 when he came in second in American League Cy Young voting and helped one of the most dominant Red Sox teams of all time to a World Series victory. Grissom arrived in Boston with a hot bat and high expectations on his shoulders, but his 23 major league games haven't cut it in year one with the Red Sox.
In a Sept. 8 report, USA Today MLB insider Bob Nightengale acknowledged that Boston lost the trade, but in an inflammatory fashion.
"If the Babe Ruth trade was the worst in Boston Red Sox history, the Sale trade to Atlanta may be the second-worst," he wrote.
Bob Nightengale said Red Sox's Chris Sale trade was the 'second-worst' in team history. . . just below the Babe Ruth deal
"He should be in that MVP conversation..."
— MLB Now (@MLBNow) September 9, 2024
- @JonHeyman on Chris Sale's dominant season#MLBNow pic.twitter.com/gYCsLLttkd
Yes, Sale has pitched his first healthy season since his first year with the Red Sox in 2017 and Boston did pay his entire $17 million salary for the year, but it's too early to accurately evaluate Grissom as its return. The 2023 season has been an outlier in Grissom's young career — he's a career .312/.404/.463 hitter in the minors and .249/.303/.340 in his brief 87 games in the big leagues — and his injuries have prevented him from reaching his full potential with Boston this season.
The Mookie Betts trade has been worse for the Red Sox than the Sale trade could ever be. Even if Grissom doesn't pan out — which he still has plenty of time to do — they sacrificed one season of Sale for eight years of a middle infielder. Eleven different Red Sox have played second base this season, and only a few have done so with any degree of consistency. If Grissom can sort out his offense, he could become a staple of Boston's offense for years to come, unlike Alex Verdugo or Jeter Downs, two of its returns for Betts and David Price.
Sale is a shoo-in for the NL Cy Young award and he's gunning for the triple crown. The change of scenery served him well and there was no way to guarantee he'd pitch so well in Boston when his track record suggested the opposite.
Nightengale is correct to say the Red Sox lost the Sale-Grissom trade this year, but the future is still up in the air. If Grissom becomes a staple of Boston's lineup, the reverse could be true in a few seasons.