Braves / Dodgers double down on Boston Lefties

Phil Gurnee ♦ January 23, 2024 ♦ Leave a comment

This is just fascinating to me. The top two organizations in major league baseball did the following this winter. They both acquired a 34 year old very talented when healthy hard throwing oft injured lefty who were both featured in the Red Sox rotation last year.

Braves trade a highly regarded 40 man player who was expected to be their starting SS in 2023 but lost the job to to Arcia. He will now be the starting 2nd baseman for the Red Sox.The Red Sox included 17MM in the deal to get that caliber of player, and the Braves then signed Sales to a two year deal worth 38MM over the next two years negating the current deal he had in place before the trade.. Chris Sale has pitched about 150 innings over the last three years with 105 of those coming in 2023.

The Dodgers simply sign James Paxton to what looks like a 11 – 12MM one year deal. Paxton has thrown 97 innings over the last three years with 96 of those coming in 2023.

It might be a 50 / 50 bet on which pitcher is the most effective in 2024. Sale was once one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball but the last time he was great and pitched over 100 innings was 2018. Paxton has had only one great season and that was in 2017.  Neither team though is looking for great, I think both teams would be happy with 100 innings and an ERA Plus of about 100 – 115. 

Kind of what the Dodgers were hoping to get from Thor as this time last year.