The Braves announced this afternoon that they’ve placed southpaw Chris Sale on the 15-day injured list with what the club has termed a fractured left ribcage. The club recalled left-hander Austin Cox in a corresponding move. As noted by David O’Brien of The Athletic, Sale was injured on Wednesday night when he made a diving play to stop a grounder off the bat of Juan Soto.
It’s a brutal blow for Atlanta to be dealt, particularly following a banner week that saw them sweep the then-division leading Mets and get within five games of an NL Wild Card spot. They’ve won seven of their last ten games, but if they’re going to keep that momentum going in a bid to get back over .500 and more firmly return to playoff contention they’ll now need to do so without Sale for the time being. The reigning NL Cy Young award winner, Sale has built on his brilliant 2024 season with a 2025 campaign that’s been nearly as good. Across 15 starts this year, the 36-year-old has pitched to a brilliant 2.52 ERA with a 2.65 FIP across 89 1/3 innings of work.
He’s struck out a phenomenal 30.8% of his opponents while walking just 7.0%. Those excellent peripherals have left him with a 2.96 SIERA, making him one of just seven qualified starters in baseball this year with a figure under three. Only Logan Webb and Paul Skenes are having better seasons by measure of ERA, and Sale is doing all of that despite terrible batted ball luck: his .329 BABIP allowed is the fourth-highest figure among qualified starters in the majors this year. It’s been another banner year for the southpaw, who has looked rejuvenated in Atlanta after injury-marred seasons with the Red Sox from 2019 to 2023.
Unfortunately, that resurgence is now put on hold by another significant injury. Sale’s timetable for a return to action is not yet known at this point, but it’s worth noting that a stress fracture in Sale’s right ribs cost him the first half of the 2022 season. After being sidelined in mid-March by the injury, Sale did not return to the mound until early July. A similar timeline would put the remainder of the southpaw’s 2025 campaign in danger, but it’s important to note that it’s unclear if Sale’s current rib cage fracture is as severe as the rib issue he dealt with in 2022.
However long the ace’s absence ultimately ends up being, it leaves Atlanta with a rotation mix that’s stretched very thin. The team is already without Reynaldo Lopez for the foreseeable future after he underwent shoulder surgery earlier this year, and AJ Smith-Shawver is done for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider will attempt to hold things down at the front of the rotation in Sale’s absence, while Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder will look to handle mid-rotation duties. Rookie Didier Fuentes currently holds the fifth starter job after making a spot start against the Marlins yesterday, but another starer like Hurston Waldrep, Davis Daniel, or even Ian Anderson could also be called upon to help round out the rotation mix.
Game over.
“Game over, man!” — Pvt. Hudson
R.I.P. Bill Paxton
“We should build a fire, sing some songs…”
That’s a wrap boys see you in 26′ 🫡…. Even worse Sale is our best trade chip smh. May be blessing in disguise I guess.
Sorry to hear that. When it rains it pours. Maybe with the extra Devers money you can trade for some help? Never good to see a good player get hurt. Hope he recovers soon.
Appreciate the sentiment, but Sale is on the Braves now not the Redsox lol
May want to delete.
Haha, I really messed that comment up. But my sentiments and positive vibes stay the same to the Braves and their fans. Sorry my brain malfunctioned!
Good movie. Stars the Workaholics cast.
Trade rumors over
Dick Mountain and Kyle Gibson just got a team not named the Blue Jays to garner interest. Let the bidding wars begin! Since Gibson will only make the minimum the bids will have to entail gift cards to the all you can eat Chinese buffet and connected massage parlor.
Chris Sale injured? No way
You’re an idiot.
Last 6 years, 75 starts. If sarcasm upsets you that much you should avoid the internet.
No, actually you seem very fragile, like Sale.
How’s Vaughn Grissom workin’ for ya?
Vaughn is healthy..amd can actually get on the field.so.right now I’d say way better than sale
Yeah. Grissom can get on the field in Worcester.
Or fenway…its at least possible which is something you cannot say for sale..so..yea enjoy
On the field, in the minors, for another year or two. I figure he may get a small deal in the KBO before finally going to sell insurance.
$10M in salary relief was the main return for Sale, not Grissom.
That’s not true. The Sox needed a second baseman
Can’t both be true?
I think the goal of the Sale trade was to dump his contract while eating as little $ as possible and anything else was secondary.
“Chris Sale injured?”…Name another active(not on I.L)pitcher that has two years of 200 innings pitched, let alone the 4 years of 200 ip possessed by Chris Sale?
And if it was 2017 (his last 200 inn year) I wouldnt have said it. But its not, Im saying after 6 years of averaging 70 inns a year.
“Averaging 70 inns”..Great job of cherry picking and using the covid year(’20) to make your point seem stronger.
“using covid year”
Sale underwent TJ surgery in March of 2020. They couldve had a 500 game schedule that year and he wouldve still had a total of zero.
Theres nothing cherry picking about ‘the last six years’. It the most relevant info. Its not like Id use stats from 2013 to point out his current durability. Now thats cherry picking.
I’ve never seen someone get owned so many times in one article.
Logan Webb and Zack Wheeler each have 2 seasons of 200+ innings pitched. There’s probably others.
Pretty much all of Sale’s long seasons happened before all his injury issues. One wonders if all that mileage was at least partially a contributor to his many injuries since.
Well…Kershaw has 5 seasons of 200+ innings and Verlander has 12 such seasons. Both are not on the IL.
Not your best day mlb fan.
“Kershaw has 5″…You’re making my point for me. All the guys you mentioned are Hall of Famers in waiting.
Chris Sale has a borderline HOF case and you don’t get that from being on the I.L your whole career.
By the way, Kershaw, Verlander and Scherzer also have extensive injury histories, as does any modern day professional pitcher.
“Kershaw has 5″…You’re making my point for me. All the guys you mentioned are Hall of Famers in waiting”
as good as degrom has been i dont think he will make the hall of fame and he has 3 200+ season and active
Logan Webb probably not either as he is very good
Jose quintana 4 times and they were even teammates … should we keep going?
mlb fan
June 21, 2025
“Chris Sale injured?”…Name another active(not on I.L)pitcher that has two years of 200 innings pitched, let alone the 4 years of 200 ip possessed by Chris Sale?
This what you posted and I replied to. You didn’t put any other qualifiers, other than 2/4 seasons of 200+ innings and not currently on the IL.
Where am I incorrect?
Then you pointed out they are both future HoF inductees.
“Roll” then added his list of guys that also have at least 2 seasons of 200+ innings, are currently not on the IL, and that are either unlikely to make the HoF or have zero chance of induction.
In summary, we can look at it from many different ways, but the result is always the same — you were wrong in both posts, lol.
“Roll” then added his list of guys that also have at least 2 seasons of 200+ innings, are currently not on the IL, and that are either unlikely to make the HoF or have zero chance of induction.
thats not nice to say about logan webb .. he still has a chance he is young 🙂
So..off the top of my head justin Verlander is active has more than 4 year years with 200+ ip…him
He’s running out of bones to break
You just break the part you already broke till your bones all look like knotted up tree limbs.
See you next year.
And just when the Braves were ready to make their move. That’s a shame. Ahahahahaha!
That’s yet another team that should be calling the Pirates and asking about trading for a starting pitcher. Even Skenes – but the offer must be massive.
Braves don’t have the trade ammo for Skenes. They don’t need to be buyers this year.
Good ol’ Dick above is just a Pittsburgh hater, for some odd reason. Show us on the Jason Kendall bobblehead where Pittsburgh hurt your feelings, Richard!
The evidence clearly shows that Pittsburgh is a bad market for baseball – a fact that the Nutting-Haters can’t accept, likely because they feel that fact somehow threatens their own identity. Therefore, they must choose to mistakenly blame Bob Nutting, whose team, in a bad market, simply doesn’t have the revenue to afford a higher payroll.
Pittsburgh, on the whole, is a city that is as good or bad as any other. I could live there or leave there, and be happy either way.
If it’s such a bad market for baseball, then why are they considered one of the most profitable MLB teams, and also recieve revenue shraing? Don’t tell me about attendance. That’s one small part of the pie. Pirates make more revenue than the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, KC Royals, and nearly as much as the Arizona D-Backs according to Forbes.
mlb1225:
The Pirates LOST money in 2024 and Bob Nutting did not make a profit..
dkpittsburghsports.com/team/site-stuff/feed?page=0…
In 2023, they were 26th of 30 in total revenue, including revenue sharing.
d3data.sportico.com/MLBValuations2024/MLBVal.html
Pittsburgh is a bad market for baseball.
Richard is somehow convinced that if he keeps posting about how bad of a baseball market Pittsburgh is, that Nutting will read the posts, be convinced, and move the team.
And for every piece of evidence he shows, and much of it is legit and helps his argument, he refuses to acknowledge that others have posted equally valid points about Pittsburgh being a perfectly acceptable baseball market in the right circumstances.
Repeating the same arguments does not make that opinion into a fact, no matter how well informed an opinion it might be.
DK is a notoriously bad reporter. This claim the Pirates run at a loss has been debunked by more reputable sources like Jeff Passan, Stephen Nesbitt, Bob Nightengale, and Ken Rosenthal. Forbes reported the Pirates’ revenue was $326 million last year, only $2 million less than the D-Backs, and over $10 mil. more than the Twins, Royals, and Tigers. Two of those teams, specifically the Tigers and Twins, had an OD payroll over $50 million more than the Pirates’ same OD payroll. this year.
Good point about DK. Pittsburgh reporters like him and MM love to tell us how dumb we all are for not seeing the obvious “truth”, even though their “truths” obfuscate their agendas.
@richard
“The Pirates LOST money in 2024 and Bob Nutting did not make a profit..
dkpittsburghsports.com/team/site-stuff/feed?page=0…”
i skimmed through this but something he used as part of operating cost was cbt not actual payroll which he states they operated at a 2M loss in the end. The CBT just for keller alone has him at 15MAAV but in reality he is only being paid about 5-6M. That 10M difference alone puts them in the profit of about 7-8M. This also doesnt include the appreciation value of owning a MLB team.
So yes it is flawed and they are still making a profit. They will get hit with it later if they dont trade him (i doubt they keep him at that point), but wouldnt be included for 2024 since they are not over the CBT and really has no bearing on the final numbers.
That’s interesting. He did a 4 month investigation that he inferred started as an idea to discredit Nutting for profit hoarding. He has said he was surprised at what they found. The interview with him that I saw had him going in with an agenda and coming out with a truth he wasn’t expecting.
Getgone 2,
You’ve convinced me.
Speaking of trade ammo yesterday I traded Jacob Wilson and Merrill Kelly to get Sale and seager and I’m already having second thoughts after this news
That’s like buying a sweet looking used Ferrari but it spends the next 3 months in the shop, sad! Wilson looks like a baller, but I could justify your trade if you’re chasing a ring. Good luck!
SEASON OVER FOR BRAVES!
Time for the Braves to back up the truck and get ready for ’26.
Ivalways wish him the best as he’s a fantastic pitcher but maybe there’s a silver lining to that awful trade for Red Sox fans. This is why they traded him. I do hope he has a quick recovery; he is fun to watch.
Is that silver lining all that production y’all getting from Vaughn Grissom?
The Braves would do that trade all over again.
In all seriousness, Sale has almost certainly exceeded the expectations Atlanta has when they acquired him. Yes, this is disappointing, but it sure has been a fun ride so far.
No, it has nothing to do with Grissom but more about the fact Sale wasn’t on the field a lot in his final Red Sox days. I would gamble that move any day. Sale couldn’t literally stay on the field, Grissom was worth a shot
If the Braves trade one prospect trying to chase down a playoff spot then AA’s a freaking idiot.
The Braves would have to go on a 2021-esque run over the next month to be truly considered contenders. No shame in retooling for one year after making the playoffs each of the last seven seasons, including a World Series win. Stock up on bats who can help next year and get back to it.
Profar is going to save the Braves season.
To be fair, it looks like he’s actually been raking in AAA, but your joke still stands. Lol
Well, now we know why AA said a trade “will not happen”!!!
A+ post Gwynn
*hat tip*
So much for the “fire Sale”…. Amirite???
dude has some awful luck with injuries. er, bad luck.
He’s the kind of guy you can ride in the playoffs – with some help from the two Spencers. Now, it might be time to think about ’26.
Checks notes…
Hmmm. That didn’t happen last year.
rechecks notes
Oh, actually they did make the playoffs but without one of the spencers. and technically without Sale who got injured prior to his postseason start
I hate to tell you but that’s Bostons point. Sale was hurt as soon as the playoffs started. So in fact, he’s right, that didn’t happen last year.
Ever since the WS win in 21, this team has been devastated by key injuries to their stars. Mercy
The odds the Braves are sellers at the deadline just went up big time. Sadly
As a Phillies fan, I would not mind overpaying the Braves for Dylan Lee. He’s exactly what they need.
Well he did throw 8 pitches after injuring his ribcage including striking out Pete Alonzo. Warrior!
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And that’s why you trade him if your ATL. Too late now.
They were never going to trade him in June anyway. If you’re going to trade him, you wait for a bidding war to take place. Nobody has a crystal ball. Pretending like AA is somehow incompetent for not trading their most valuable asset before June 20th is ridiculous
Obviously. I meant when/if he’s healthy again. He is a great pitcher but unfortunately he’s hurt way too often and can’t be counted on.
Sale aka Glass Joe. When he’s healthy he’s one of the best. That being said said he can’t stay healthy, just like here in Boston
Glass Joe was 1-100 (1-101 after beating Title Defense on the Wii version). How is a multi-time All-Star and 1x Cy Young winner Glass Joe?
I always liked that Glass Joe was French for no apparent reason.
“Glass Joe” will still play at least as many games, if not more, in MLB between now and October 1 as Vaughn Grissom.
Snit, there was no reason for him to pitch the 9th! David Ross, how soon are you available to replace Snit?
Why was he still pitching in the 9th witn. 5 ru. Lead again? This guy has proved over and over that freak injuries and durability are a problem..including last year
He wanted to go the entire game. He’s earned the right to make that call. Came out after this though
Guess its on the manager for not protecting the player from himself..if it was cora people would calling for his job..sale is not the type to fight a manager..and no pitcher wants to come out of a game given the choice. Pedro earned it too back in 03 playoffs
Braves fans will now blame injuries this year.
Not me. The team just hasn’t been good.
@Rebuild: You mean like last year when you claimed that injuries don’t matter? Thought you were going to tell everybody here today “I told you so” that Fuentes would be sent down immediately after the game last night. Go ahead—–tell us.
Remember Braves fans, the WS run happened AFTER the Acuna injury so this is the same thing!
That is a nasty injury, that can be quite painful for quite a while
Sale heard his name brought up in trade rumors and threw himself on top of a grenade
Grab Kyle Gibson, let him eat innings rather than put needless wear and tear on the young guys. Reassess at the deadline.
Legit question..prior to the trade did Braves fans hate grissom? All I’ve seen all over this board is Braves fans saying things like “how’s grissom working for you,?” To red sox fans..or do yall just like to rub it in when something works out i your favor?..if the later..well guess karma is a B
You can go back before the trade and see my posts—and those of other Braves fans—who felt that Grissom had no chance to be a MLB middle infield starter. Poor footwork, below average arm, not enough range to play a serviceable ML SS/2B. Also saw him as nothing more than a punch and judy hitter who sells out for weak contact. Good kid, below average player. No hatred, just my opinion.
He had excellent strike zone recognition and made a lot of contact from what I recall. Like a RH Arraez with a bit more pop and comparable defensive skills(?).
One man’s “needless wear and tear” is another’s “giving young pitchers valuable MLB experience.” Why punt winnable games w/Kyle Gibson? Rather they take their chances w/the kids.
Unless they score more, the big league experience may be a detriment to Waldrep, Fuentes, etc. A lot of high-stress innings on young guys who probably are throwing harder than they should be anyway. Gibson pitching 5-6 innings of 4.5 ERA ball sounds better for the long-term for me. YMMV.