This offseason, the Boston Red Sox traded four top prospects to the Chicago White Sox for a hard-throwing lefty pitcher. Eight years earlier, they did the same thing.
The Red Sox’s trade for Garrett Crochet was one of the blockbuster moves of the winter, just like the Sale trade that came before it. Similarly to Sale, Crochet has delivered in the early goings with Boston, but things can change in an instant.
A bout with elbow inflammation prematurely ended Sale’s 2019 season and set off a chain reaction of injuries throughout the rest of his Red Sox tenure. In 2020, Sale underwent Tommy John surgery (the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season was probably the best time for that). He pitched for just over a month of the 2021 regular season before breaking his finger and wrist in 2022. In 2023, he needed a 60-day IL stint for a stress fracture in his scapula, and the Red Sox traded Sale to the Braves the following offseason.
The trade didn’t go as planned for Boston. It’s return, infielder Vaughn Grissom, spent the first few months of his season injured and the rest in the minor leagues. He appeared in 31 games for the Red Sox and slashed .190/.246/.219. Sale, on the other hand, won the National League Cy Young Award and Triple Crown after pitching his first full season since 2019.
Chris Sale and Garrett Crochet will face off in rubber match at Fenway Park on May 16
Sale’s freak injuries were mostly rotten luck, but he pitched just one full season of the five-year contract extension he signed in 2019. It’s still early, but Crochet may be more fortunate than Sale when it comes to injuries — he was grazed in the nose by a line drive on May 4, but stayed in the game and never saw a day on the IL.
Sale and the Red Sox’s Sale 2.0 will face each other on May 16 at Fenway Park, and Boston may finally get to close the book on the disastrous contract extension and eventual trade to Atlanta. Crochet has been excellent for the Sox, with a 1.93 ERA, 1.7 WHIP and 65 strikeouts over 56 innings.
The Braves have been one of the best teams in the National League since their unexpected 0-7 start to the season. The Red Sox, fresh off a sweep at the hands of the Tigers, could use a momentum-changing win against a quality opponent.
Crochet has often played the role of stopper for Boston, killing multiple losing skids in their tracks. He could also be well on his way to crushing the Red Sox’s streak of misfortune with elite pitchers. Sticking it to Sale could be the icing on the cake of an elite start to Crochet’s Sox career.
