The Braves are signing veteran left-hander Chris Sale to a one-year contract extension, as reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The Wasserman client was slated to reach free agency this coming winter but will instead stick with Atlanta. In doing so, he’ll make $27MM in 2027 on a deal that also includes a club option for the 2028 season. According to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, that 2028 option is valued at $30MM.
Sale, 37 next month, may be entering his late thirties but remains as effective as ever. Atlanta acquired the southpaw prior to the 2024 season in exchange for Vaughn Grissom in a deal with the Red Sox that turned out to be a coup for the Braves. Since joining the organization, Sale has pitched to an otherworldly 2.46 ERA with a 2.38 FIP, with a strikeout rate of 32.2% and a walk rate of 5.9%. Those elite rate stats earned him his first career Cy Young award in 2024 but come in just 303 1/3 innings of work total because of a rib cage fracture that sidelined Sale for a portion of the 2025 season.
More to come.
