The Sox are 12th in runs scored, 2nd in ER allowed and 2nd in ERA.
The truth is, up until now, we haven't needed Sale, we've needed hitting. The Sale trade hasn't hurt us.
Let's dig deeper. Chris Sale is good, very good when he's healthy, aside from a couple duds he was lights out for us last year......for 20 games. The most he has pitched since 2019, he's up to 9 this year.
Chris Sale was gone after this year, and the Sox cashed him in for 6 years of a Vaugh Grissom, 22 at the time, who hit at every level with a lifetime .863 OPS in the minors reaching the bigs at 21.
Now, you can't argue with the results, Grissom sucks. Did he just completely turn into a bust the day he was traded to the Sox? or could it be that he's young, pressing, and after being injured and having no spring training his timing is completely off? Given the small sample size I'm perfectly happy throwing my hat in the ring on that later statement.
It's very fair to say that as of right now the trade doesn't look great, but there's every reason to still like it long term, and there's plenty of time for Grissom to return more value than Sale will in 2024. He was 5 years of team control left after this year.
With that said, it's time to send him down to the minors. He obviously needs more time to get his timing back, work on some adjustments, and do it in an enviroment where he's not hurting the big league club.