So far Sale is pitching like a CY candidate, and Grissom has been playing when he has played like a suspect, and not a prospect. I’ve already said in the beginning I didn’t know Boston had to kick in $17M, and have been highly critical of that fact ever since. Irrelevant criticism from a NN? That’s irrelevant in itself.
You're highly critical for everything
WAR is good for something.
Therefore, I take everything you say with a grain of salt. Your opinions have an agenda.
WAR is good for something.
It's more complicated than you guys are saying. Sale made it clear that, whoever he played for this year, must agree to 3 years, 2024-2026. And he could do that as a 10year/5 year veteran of MLB and of the Sox.
I think it's the 3 year contract that made it very easy for the Sox not only to let Sale go, but to send $17M with him.
So why oh why did the Braves agree to 3 years? I think they looked at the bigger picture, which is that, after TJ surgery and presumably a rebuilt and stronger Sale, he never got a real chance to show what he could do until 2023.
Last year was 4 years after his last real season, so chances were he was rediscovering what he could still do: 20 starts, 6 complete games, 125 IP, 125 K's, 29 BB's, ERA 4.30. The Braves decided, correctly, that something like the old Sale was doable/possible.
But, as we have seen, this season they have been careful to give him a minimum of 6 days rest between starts and sometimes 7. In return, Sale has averaged 6.25 innings per start to go along with the 2.71 ERA and 127 K's to 19 BB's. He has pitched 100 innings and could come close to 200 for the season. However, we also know that Sale faltered in the final months (and the postseason) in 2017 and 2018 before ending the 2019 season early with just 25 starts. So I think the Braves will err on the side of caution this season because they want him for 2025 and 2026.