Vaughn Grissom has been looking for an opportunity to get regular playing time in the Majors for a couple of years. The Red Sox have been looking for a regular second baseman for much longer than that.

What we might have here is the perfect match.

Grissom had been knocking on the door with the Braves, but he encountered one small problem: That team was loaded from a position-player standpoint and didn’t have regular playing time available for one of the best hitters in their farm system. That left Grissom stuck in Triple-A for probably a year too long.

Recently, Grissom was playing third base and left field in winter ball, hoping to prove to the Braves he could be a super-utility player.

Those plans came to an abrupt end with the Dec. 30 trade that sent Grissom to the Red Sox for Chris Sale.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow immediately endorsed Grissom as someone who would get every chance to be the team’s primary second baseman.

That was music to Grissom’s ears after the media relayed Breslow’s words of confidence.

“I didn't really [hear], but if that was said, that's pretty cool,” Grissom said.

When the offseason started, Grissom suspected he might get traded by the team that selected him in the 11th round of the 2019 Draft. But as the weeks went by and he was expanding his defensive horizons in Puerto Rico, he didn’t really see it coming. And he certainly didn’t expect to be dealt for a seven-time All-Star in Sale.

“Chris Sale, I know he did big things," said Grissom. "'Big' is an understatement, but he did amazing things for the city of Boston, obviously for the Red Sox. And just to be able to get in a shot like that is out of this world. I mean, if you would've told me when I was a child that I was going to get a shot with the Boston Red Sox when I was 23, I would flip out. So obviously, it's just an amazing honor.”

In fact, Grissom just turned 23 this past weekend, calling it his “Jordan year” as an homage to the legendary former basketball player who wore No. 23.

And it was just as the year 2023 was coming to an end that Grissom got the fresh start that could be exactly what he needs.

“Oh yeah,” Grissom said. “I’m really excited about getting this opportunity. Obviously, it would have been awesome to not necessarily play for the Braves, but the team that drafted you and stuff like that, the relationships I made there. But it's part of the game, and I'm really excited to give this organization what I’ve got.”

As for that revolving door the Red Sox have had at second base, it started in 2018 when Dustin Pedroia’s left knee got so bad, his career was essentially over.

Over the last six seasons, the Sox ran the gamut at second, deploying  Brock Holt, Eduardo Núñez, Ian Kinsler, Michael Chavis, Marco Hernández, Jonathan Araúz, José Peraza, Tzu-Wei Lin, Christian Arroyo, Kiké Hernández, José Iglesias, Trevor Story (who is now back at his natural position of short), Enmanuel Valdez, Luis Urías and Pablo Reyes, among others.

If Grissom can capitalize on his opportunity, he has a chance to stabilize the position in Boston not just in 2024, but for years beyond that. He isn’t eligible for free agency until after the '29 season.

Grissom already loves the Green Monster. In his Major League debut on Aug. 10, 2022, he scorched a homer that soared over Fenway’s famed left-field wall and onto the street.

In a Zoom call after signing a contract extension with the Braves last week, Sale expressed zero bitterness toward the Red Sox for trading him.

Instead, he expressed gratitude.

“It was nothing short of a disaster the last few years there,” Sale said, referring to the barrage of injuries he dealt with. “And I’m not shying away from it. You guys know me. I am going to be honest. Ups and downs, man. The best days of my life were there. The worst days of my life were there.

“But it’s more so about the people. The teammates. It’s the front office. It’s the training staff. Everybody there. Those guys had my back, and I will be forever grateful for that. I’m forever indebted to them. Again, they made a big commitment to me and I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain, and they were always great to me.”

The annoyance of injuries was offset by the glory of winning a World Series, something Sale never came close to in his time with the White Sox.

“I’ll never forget the people that I met there [in Boston],” Sale said. “The relationships, and that 2018 season where we lifted up that trophy as world champions.”

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