Chris Sale hilariously contrasts new role with Braves to Red Sox tenure

The Boston Red Sox haven't made the big splash move that fans were expecting, but they did make some trades to retool their roster. They traded Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees, and ultimately replaced him by acquiring Tyler O'Neill from the St. Louis Cardinals. One of their other significant trades was dealing starting pitcher Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom. Not only that, but the Red Sox were paying $17 million of Sale's salary for the 2024 season.

After the trade, the Braves decided to ensure he would be with the team for longer than next season, as they signed the seven-time All-Star to a two-year, $38 million contract. With that, he will slot behind Max Fried, Spencer Strider, and Charlie Morton for 2024.

Sale made an appearance on Foul Territory on Monday, and host and former catcher A.J. Pierzynski joked about him being the No. 4 starter on the Braves. Sale joked, "I can go out and suck and no one's going to hate me now."

"When I first got to Boston, I think I was third or fourth," said Sale. "So it went Rick [Porcello], [Drew Pomeranz]. I think seven years later I only fell one spot, that's not terrible.

Chris Sale jokes that he won't get booed since he's Braves' No. 4 starting pitcher

Sale did say that it doesn't matter where he is on Atlanta's starting rotation, he just wants to get the ball and help the team win.

Back in 2017, Sale arrived in Boston following his trade from Chicago and became a difference-maker for the team. Sale made it to the All-Star Game for his first two years in Boston, and in 2018 and won the World Series for the first time in his career. Sale was rewarded with a five-year, $145 million contract extension.

Sale mentions that after the contract, he was upset that he was unable to accomplish anything for the team once he received his new contract. Sale cites injuries as the main reason why, and he felt bad he was unable to reward the Red Sox.

“I didn’t do anything post-contract, which bothers me. If we would have won the World Series after I signed that contract, I’d have felt maybe a little bit better," said Sale, h/t Conor Ryan of Boston.com. But I got traded there, we won a World Series and they obviously made a big commitment to me and rewarded me for having two good years and bringing a championship to that city. ‘Hey, we’re going all in on you. We’ve done our end of the bargain. Here’s five years. Here’s a big contract. Now you get to go keep doing what you’re doing.’ Because they saw those two previous years and that’s what they thought they had signed up for five more years. And it wasn’t.

“The best years of my baseball career were in Boston, but also the worst years of my career were in Boston. And if those worst years weren’t, just to be completely honest, so (expletive) expensive… It’s a kick, it’s a gut punch. It’s not a fun thing that I’ll be able to look back on and remember about my life and my career. But I learned a lot from it. I’d like to think you can take some good with bad and roll with the punches. It’s a mixed bag, but overall, I guess in short answer, if it was one word, I would say no.”

Since signing the contract in 2019, Sale missed time due to left elbow inflammation, Tommy John surgery, a rib cage injury, a broken finger, a broken right wrist, and a stress reaction of the scapula. In that span, Sale pitched in just 65 games.

Overall in his seven years with the Red Sox, Sale recorded a 3.27 ERA, a 1.018 WHIP, a 46-30 win-loss record, 945 strikeouts, and 156 walks in 670.2 innings.

Now, Sale gets a chance to try to return to his old form with the Braves, one of the better teams in the National League. Even though Sale joked that the pressure isn't as high as it was in Boston, he's ready to help Atlanta win some games.