This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat e-newsletter. To learn the total e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it repeatedly in your inbox.
In case you had Chris Sale and Jarred Kelenic in your Braves offseason bingo card, then you definately should be Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos.
Regardless that historical past had taught us to anticipate a minimum of one Anthopoulos offseason shock, no one was anticipating Kelenic and Sale would find yourself filling the Braves’ high offseason wants. There’s definitely some danger and uncertainty connected to each gamers.
However Atlanta didn’t dip into its prospect capital or take any long-term monetary dangers to realize a few high-ceiling gamers. As groups have been keen to take a decade-long danger to get high free brokers the previous two winters, Anthopoulos has skillfully strengthened his roster with out doubtlessly burdening the workforce’s long-term payroll projections.
Strengthening the bullpen has been certainly one of Anthopoulos’ most beneficial acts this offseason. After seeing his mighty offense silenced by the Phillies’ energy arms throughout the Nationwide League Division Collection, he has constructed his personal fleet of hard-throwing relievers with the additions of Reynaldo López, Aaron Bummer and others.
Anthopoulos added another shock on Thursday morning, when he gave Sale a two-year, $38 million deal. The southpaw will primarily be free this yr due to the $17 million the Crimson Sox supplied within the commerce. However by committing a $22 million wage to Sale for 2025, the Braves are proving they really consider he can keep wholesome.
The Braves tried to maintain Aaron Nola from re-signing with the Phillies. Additionally they had some degree of curiosity in Sonny Grey. However their curiosity in buying and selling for Dylan Stop was overblown and Anthopoulos has properly stayed away from the long-term offers for many free brokers, particularly these of the beginning pitching selection.
Anthopoulos isn’t averse to long-term offers. He was keen to take an opportunity on Nola, and his payroll features a plethora of long-term commitments by way of the extensions given to his younger stars. However for those who’re going to take a danger, it appears a lot wiser to roll the cube on 20-year-olds (Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Spencer Strider, and so on.) than free brokers who will spend a good portion of their contract of their 30s.
Sale is definitely a danger, however the Braves consider he is value a short-term gamble.
Accidents ended the dominance Sale displayed whereas ending throughout the high six in balloting for the American League Cy Younger Award for seven consecutive seasons (2012-18). The 34-year-old lefty underwent Tommy John surgical procedure in 2020 and battled each a rib fracture and proper wrist fracture throughout the 2022 season. He totaled simply 11 begins from 2020-22.
Sale’s damage woes continued this previous season as he frolicked on the injured listing with a stress response to his left scapula. He ended up posting a 4.30 ERA over 20 begins. He had a 3.92 ERA within the 9 begins he made after he returned from the IL in August.
Sale is a short-term danger similar to Josh Donaldson was in 2019.
The Braves had been clever to signal Donaldson and even wiser to not double down on him. Now they’ll hope to get the identical risk-reward worth from Sale.
Anthopoulos mentioned there aren’t any plans to have Sale start the season late, however he acknowledged the left-hander hasn’t thrown greater than 102 2/3 innings in any of the previous 4 seasons. So, if the 34-year-old left-hander goes to be a possible distinction maker in October, the Braves might want to use some warning all through the season.
Atlanta will use a few of its beginning pitching depth to create an additional day of relaxation every time attainable, and Sale is likely to be restricted to 5 innings throughout lots of his early-season begins. Anthopoulos additionally talked about the worth of often not throwing between begins.
It is a calculated danger that doesn’t jeopardize the membership’s future monetarily or by way of prospects. There’s no assure it would work, however it’s simpler to take a short-term gamble than one that would adversely have an effect on the payroll for a few years to come back.
