Red Sox make first major moves of offseason

BOSTON (WLNE) – The Boston Red Sox acquired one all-star pitcher just a day before trading another away.

Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow made the first significant financial investment of his front office tenure on Friday evening, signing starter Lucas Giolito to a two-year, $38.5M contract, and followed up by trading Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The Red Sox acquired infield prospect Vaughn Grissom in the Sale trade and will send $17M to Atlanta to help offset the southpaw’s contract, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Sale waived his no-trade clause in accordance with the deal for a chance to pitch with a World Series contender.

Sale, 34, suffered a tumultuous fall from grace during his tenure with the Red Sox. After being acquired in a blockbuster deal from the White Sox prior to the 2017 season, he tallied back-to-back top-five finishes in Cy Young award voting and helped Boston to a World Series in 2018.

Sale famously recorded the last out to seal the franchise’s ninth championship, but was mired by injuries after signing a five-year $145M deal that offseason. He has one year left on his contract.

Giolito, 29, is a proven innings eater, providing at least 170 innings pitched over five of the past six seasons, with the 2020 pandemic-shortened season as the only exception. He earned an all-star appearance during a breakout 2019 campaign with the Chicago White Sox, in which he posted a 3.41 ERA and 228 strikeouts. Giolito’s contract includes an opt-out after the first season.

In effect, replacing Sale with Giolito, the Red Sox get much-needed innings security in their starting rotation. Giolito averaged 175 innings per season over the past three years, whereas Sale delivered just 151 innings in that entire span. No Boston pitcher tossed more than 160 innings in 2023.

The Red Sox get six-years of control in Grissom, 22, who ranked highly in a strong Braves system. The infielder made his MLB debut in 2022 with the Braves but spent the majority of the 2023 season in AAA, blocked by a stacked Atlanta infield. Based on the current roster construction, Grissom should have a good shot at winning Boston’s starting role at second base to begin the 2024 season.

Reports say the Red Sox are likely to remain active over the next several weeks as the market heats up. Boston has been tied to several free agents, including outfielder Teoscar Hernández and starter Jordan Montgomery.