While Atlanta lost three of four to the San Diego Padres after splitting the Monday doubleheader, the Braves got another dominating performance from Chris Sale, as he struck out nine batters while allowing just five hits and no runs through 7 innings pitched.
On Tuesday, Steak Shapiro and Drew Butler shared their thoughts on Sale's performance since dawning the Braves uniform with both agreeing that Sale has to be in the early conversations for the Cy Young Award.
And while Sale’s dominance has been one of the Braves’ bright spots this season as they have had a fair share of offensive struggles at the plate, Shapiro and Butler discussed whether the move to bring the veteran pitcher to Atlanta could be considered the best transaction for the franchise in recent years, even topping the 2021 moves where the Braves brought in several would-be contributors to their World Series run.
“People forget that the Atlanta Braves were not having a great year three years ago and basically at the trade deadline, at the 11th hour, went out and made four moves to the roster, which essentially won them a World Series," Shapiro said referring to the Braves’ acquisitions of Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario, and Adam Duvall. "And Alex Anthopoulos was the man that did it.”
“I don’t know how to describe the brilliance of those moves, but how they immediately impacted the postseason was a stroke of genius by Alex Anthopoulos,” Butler added.
As they continued the conversation, Shapiro compared the Braves coming out on top of the 2021 moves and the trade for Chris Sale to that of an individual playing roulette and winning unfavorable odds.
“You took a shot on guys you had a good feeling about,” Shapiro said.