NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos didn’t hesitate when asked about giving Chris Sale the largest salary in team history.
“If there's anyone who deserves it, it's him,” Anthopoulos said. “I actually think it's important, you know, as odd as that might sound. There’s no better person to have that highest AAV [average annual value] in the history of the organization, just because of everything he's about, how he goes about it and so on. So, yeah, he earned it.”
Sale’s smile was a little wider on Tuesday morning, when the Braves announced they have given him a one-year, $27 million contract extension that includes a $30 million option for the 2028 season. It wasn’t a coincidence that this deal was finalized less than two weeks after Sale said he’d like to retire with Atlanta and Anthopoulos responded by saying he’d love to see that happen.
“It was kind of weird,” Sale said. “He said what he said? I said what I said and we kind of just kind of looked at each other like, ‘Are we serious?’ Then I called [my agent B.B. Abbott], and was like, ‘Hey, call Alex and figure something out.’ We made our pitch, they made their pitch, and then we kind of met in the middle.”
Sale’s $27M AAV trumps the club’s previous high AAV, which Josh Donaldson earned with his one-year, $23M deal in 2019.
This lucrative extension is even more remarkable when you consider Sale joined the Braves in 2024 assuming that it would be his final season. But he won the National League Cy Young Award that year, further strengthened his Hall of Fame credentials last year and has made himself one of the most respected and beloved members of the Braves' clubhouse.
“He's a top five, top 10 starter in the game,” Anthopoulos said. “I think everyone would agree with that. Then you add in the makeup and the character and the work ethic and the example for all these young arms that we have, and the teammate he is. I wish we could find other Chris Sales.”
Braves manager Walt Weiss gave a similar glowing compliment.
“He’s one of the best I've been around," Weiss said. “You take everything into consideration, the way he works, the way he competes, the way he treats people. He has zero diva in him, and he's Hall of Famer. He's a rare breed, and there's a lot of value in that. Of course, he's great pitcher, too.”
When the Red Sox sent Sale and $17M to the Braves in exchange for Vaughn Grissom before the 2024 season, injuries had limited the lanky lefty to 31 starts over the previous four seasons combined. So, it’s safe to say nobody was predicting he’d get this chance to possibly pitch through the 2028 season, when he’ll be 39.
“I think this organization breathed new life into him,” Anthopoulos said. “But he deserves all the credit in the world.”
A rib injury sidelined Sale for two months last year and a cranky back prevented him from being available at the end of the 2024 season and into what was a very brief playoff experience for Atlanta. But for the most part, the veteran hurler has created reason to believe he could be durable for the next three seasons.
Sale has posted a 2.46 ERA over 50 appearances (49 starts) for the Braves over the past two seasons. Despite missing significant time last year, he still ranks 10th among all MLB pitchers in strikeouts over the past two seasons with 390.
The nine-time All-Star also ranks second among starters with a 32.2% strikeout rate, trailing only Garrett Crochet (32.9%). The numbers show he’s back to being the dominant pitcher he was when he finished in the top six in AL Cy Young balloting over seven straight years from 2012-18.
“When I was 21 years old, and just got started, that this was kind of how it was all going to play out,” Sale said. “This is what I dreamed of doing. It would have been crazy at the time, to think this would happen, but I'm just very thankful for all the people that got me here.”