Braves acquire Chris Sale, cash from Red Sox for Vaughn Grissom - ESPN

The Atlanta Braves acquired left-hander Chris Sale from the Boston Red Sox for infielder Vaughn Grissom on Saturday, shoring up their rotation with the seven-time All-Star they hope rounds out a World Series-caliber roster.

Sale waived his no-trade clause to consummate the deal, which followed months of efforts from the Braves to add a starting pitcher to a rotation that already includes Spencer Strider, Max Fried and Charlie Morton. While Grissom had been part of prospective trades this winter, including offers for Chicago White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease, he wound up being what it took to get Sale, who will go to Atlanta along with $17 million to offset his $27.5 million salary in 2024, per sources.

Sale, 34, is coming off his best season since 2019, having posted a 4.30 ERA in 102⅔ innings with 125 strikeouts, 29 walks and 15 home runs allowed. From 2020 to 2022, Sale threw only 48⅓ innings. Tommy John surgery kept him out in 2020 and most of 2021, and a rib injury delayed his 2022 debut for months, only for a comebacker to break his left pinkie in his first start back and end his season.

Sale's stuff, although not as dynamic as his exceptional peak, remains well above average, and Atlanta will insert him into a rotation that's among the best in baseball. The Braves opened the offseason as World Series favorites, but following the Los Angeles Dodgers' signings of two-way star Shohei Ohtani and right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they edged ahead of Atlanta. Sale, who is 120-80 with a 3.10 ERA and the highest strikeout rate ever for a starting pitcher — 11.1 per nine innings, against just 2.1 walks per nine — has been one of the finest pitchers of his generation and is set to reach free agency after 2024.

The Braves,