Bill of Sale

An Ace Returns

On December 6th, 2016, the Boston Red Sox acquired Chris Sale from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for: Cuban superstar prospect Yoán Moncada, unheralded flamethrower Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Víctor Díaz (who are still faceless). Upon joining Boston, Sale switched his uniform number from 49 to 41, because 49 is unofficially (Why can we not make it official?!) retired for Tim Wakefield. By the way, this is a shameless plug to go read my piece about Tim Wakefield from opening day… enjoy!

At the time, the Red Sox were loaded with talent. They had homegrown superstars like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts who would go on to spend their entire career at Fenway… which I am still not happy about. Big name free agents like JD Martinez and David Price further solidified the expectations placed on them. Adding Chris Sale was a move we seemingly had to make. As much as I love homegrown talent and developing a farm system, there’s a right time to deal prospects. In baseball it takes 3-5 years to get a draft pick through your system and up to the majors. Trading Kopech and Moncada was the right move and, in hindsight, was a no-brainer since neither reached their potential and consistently found themselves on the injured list.

Enough about the haul we received for our vanilla counter-part, let’s get into Chris Sales’ tenure in Boston. In his first two seasons, he was exactly what we expected and more. In those years, he started 59 games with a record of 29-12, sporting a 2.50 ERA. In 2018, he helped a loaded, record setting, team of destiny that went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Chris Sale even came out of the bullpen to record a save for the final out of the game and strike out one of Boston’s all time villains: Manny Machado. I’m not going to do a whole piece on that team right now (maybe in the future), but I had to highlight that he was indeed worth what we gave up to get him before the wheels fell off. 

After the World Series, Sale was signed to a massive extension where he inked a 5 year, $155 million dollar deal (God, how times have changed…) and committing to the Sox long term. Sale would have a decent 2019 season before dealing with a litany of injuries that would plague him for the rest of his Red Sox career. Over the next four seasons he would start just 56 games (59 starts between 2017-18) and struggled with a dip in velocity and control. The fan base seemed to turn on him because with that price tag, it’s reasonable to assume they require production and Boston to championships are like a Sasquatch to a Snickers… “you’re not you when you’re hungry”. After a tumultuous four seasons of inconsistency the Red Sox traded him to the Atlanta Braves in the 2023 offseason for infield prospect Vaughn Grissom ending the Chris Sale era in Boston. 

Sale himself has displayed regret over his time with the Red Sox. It’s not exactly his fault he caught the injury bug, and as a true fan of the guy it makes me happy to see him bounce back after this trade to Atlanta. A fresh start is what he and the Red Sox rotation both desperately needed. If you know Chris Sale he’s at his best when he’s playing pissed off, and I’m sure he was able to channel a little bit of that in his return to Boston. He took the hill in a 5-0 shutout. He went 6 innings gave up 6 hits, no runs, and double digit strikeouts. A vintage Sale performance at Fenway. It pains me deeply that it was for the team that left Boston, but I’m happy for the guy nonetheless. “Ozuna from the Braves” provided the offense with two home runs which I’m sure he’ll use as a bargaining chip when he inevitably gets in trouble with the law again. Sale is on a championship contender team, he just inked a two year extension with the Braves and he’s having the best year of his career since 2018.

There’s been three “Ace” pitchers in my lifetime that have been a must watch every time they hit the mound. Pedro Martinez, Jon Lester, & Chris Sale. End of message, repeat the line. There have been a plethora of fantastic pitchers over the last 24 years in Boston, but those three stick out to me above the rest. That slider Sale would throw “SHEEEEEEESH”. Before I start to ramble, I’ll wrap this up. We don’t win in 2018 without Chris Sale and for that he should always have a place in Sox fans heart no matter how the rest of his tenure went. He’s one of the best pitchers of his era, and I hope he gets remembered that way. He needs this run with the Braves to get back to the forefront and make sure his legacy won’t be forgotten league wide. For myself, I won’t ever forget him and his impact.

Check out “stonedsportspodcast” on Twitch!

Follow The Ocho on all social media platforms!

Follow ME & ARMCHAIR on all social media platforms! 

Come check out The Ocho, live Wednesday nights at 8:00 EST to tell us your thoughts on all things sports.