The Atlanta Braves are already making moves to help their team next season, and one of the things they did was exercise their club option on a key player, according to MLB insider Jon Heyman.
“Braves are picking up future Hall of Famer Chris Sale’s $18M option. No surprise there,” Heyman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Sale, the 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner, went 7-5 with a 2.58 ERA and 165 strikeouts for the team this season. In June, he suffered a rib cage fracture and missed 10 weeks after being placed on the 60-day injured list. When he returned, he had six starts and posted a 2.72 ERA and struck out 52 batters in a little over 36 innings.
In his first season with the Braves, Sale won the pitching Triple Crown, as he finished with an NL high in wins and strikeouts and a league low ERA of 2.38.
The Braves did not have the best injury luck this season, and Sale was one of the few that they had to deal with throughout the year. All of their Opening Day starters were on the injured list at some point, which was one of the reasons they were not able to make the playoffs, something they hadn't done since 2o17.
Next season will look a bit different for the Braves, as they just recently hired Walt Weiss as the new manager. They still have their core group of players such as Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Sale, Spencer Strider, and others. There is a good chance that they could be back in the playoffs next season, especially with the talent named.
The one thing that they will have to work on is the bullpen, as Raisel Iglesias is supposed to be a free agent this offseason. Health will be key for the Braves as well if they want to get back to playing good, consistent baseball.
