Sonny Gray bound for Boston; Red Sox trade two pitchers for veteran starter

The first domino has fallen for the Red Sox offseason.

Boston is acquiring right-handed starter Sonny Gray and $20 million in cash from the St. Louis Cardinals for right-handed pitcher Richard Fitts and left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Clarke. The New York Post's Jon Heyman first reported the deal.

To complete the trade with the Red Sox, Gray, 36, had to waive his no-trade clause. Boston bolsters its rotation by adding the 13-year veteran, who has just one year left on a three-year, $75 million deal he signed with the Cardinals in November 2023. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Gray’s one-year, $31 million deal with a $10 million mutual option for 2027 is being reworked. His contract for next season will be for $41 million, but the Cardinals are sending $20 million to cover half, essentially making it a $21 million deal. He has a $10 million mutual option for 2027, but based off that number, it’s not likely he will exercise that with Boston.

It’s unclear if Gray is the No. 2 starter the Red Sox were looking to add this offseason. In the short term, Boston’s rotation projects to have Garrett Crochet, Gray, Brayan Bello, and others next season.

Gray made 32 starts for the Cardinals last season, recording a 4.28 ERA in 180 2/3 frames, while striking out 201 batters. The righty posted a league-leading strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.29 and had an FIP of 3.39. He is a three-time All-Star who finished 14-8 with a 4.28 ERA last season. Gray owns a career 3.58 ERA over 330 big league starts.

Earlier in the month, while at the General Manager meetings in Las Vegas, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters he wanted to add a “front of a rotation” starter in free agency or via trade.

“I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time trying to add a No. 4, a No. 5 starter,” Breslow said to reporters on Nov. 10. “If we’re going to make a starting pitching addition, I think it should be somebody who can pitch at the front of a rotation and start a playoff game for us.”

Boston had Bello and Lucas Giolito pitch behind Crochet last season. Bello pitched like a No. 2 starter at times over the course of the year but went 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA over five starts in September and lasted just 2 1/3 frames in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series versus the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. 

Bello isn't a lock to remain with the Red Sox and could be part of a package to land a top starter this winter. 

Giolito had a strong year coming off Tommy John surgery, but declined his mutual option to test free agency. The Red Sox also declined to attach the qualifying offer to Giolito. With the addition of Gray, a reunion with Giolito seems bleak.

“Particularly someone that we feel like can pitch alongside or slot in behind Garrett and start a playoff game for us,” Breslow said. “Last season, Bello played that role for a majority of the season. Lucas played that role for a majority of the season. Because of the depth that we’ve built up over the last couple of years, we feel pretty good about just overall starting pitching. Kind of maybe Nos. 3ish through 10ish.”

The Red Sox have been connected to Gray’s former teammate in Twins starter Joe Ryan and other top arms around the game. Breslow held conversations with teams around the league to determine the availability of starters this winter and matched up with Chaim Bloom, who is now running the Cardinals' front office.

“That’s part of the conversations that take place right now,” Breslow said. “You have a pretty good idea of where teams are around the trade deadline, and things change. Things change based on the way teams finish seasons, based on financial considerations, and based on a whole host of factors. And so we’re ... collecting information so that we can answer those questions more definitively.”

This won’t be the first time that Gray will pitch for a team in the American League East. He went 15-16 during his time with the Yankees with a 4.51 ERA and hasn’t pitched particularly well at Fenway Park, owning a 0-4 record with a 6.84 ERA in 26 1/3 innings with opponents hitting .326 against him.

Boston is parting with two pitchers from their newly revamped pitching pipeline established under Breslow. Fitts was acquired in a four-player trade with the Yankees in December 2023. Fitts is under team control through 2031 and is just 25 years old. He’s pitched better in Triple-A than in the big leagues, owning a 2-4 record with a 5.00 ERA last season. Inconsistency on the mound and injuries derailed his 2025 campaign, but he still offers upside as a back-end rotation piece and will be an option to start for the Cardinals in 2026.

Clarke is a hard-throwing left-hander who is ranked as the Sox’ No. 8 prospect, according to SoxProspects. Boston drafted Clarke in the fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft, and the 6-foot-4, 220-pound left-hander is delivering an excellent first professional season. Between Single-A Salem and High-A Greenville, Clarke has struck out 56 batters in 35 innings.

The 22-year-old hurler was ranked in the Top 100 prospects with Baseball America.

“There are very few left-handers that sit in the upper 90s after being drafted, and even fewer that feature a plus slider,” Baseball America writes. “The Red Sox fifth-round pick has had more helium than any prospect to start 2025. He’s gone from unranked in their Top 30 to a Top 100 prospect in a few months’ time.”

Clarke has tremendous upside and potential, owning a 97 mph fastball, but hasn’t harnessed his control in the Sox’ system. His heater sits between 95 and 98 mph and can touch 100 mph, with his best pitch being his wipeout slider that sits in the high 80s.

If the Cardinals can sharpen Clarke’s command, he has the upside to stick in a big league rotation. If Clarke had remained in Boston’s farm system, he was projected to begin the season with High-A Greenville.

Bloom is focused on building the Cardinals' young core and has a handful of veterans he’s expected to shop this offseason. Nolan Arenado and Gray headline the Cardinals' top trade pieces.

“Sonny’s a bit of a different situation where he signed here for a reason, and I think he’s been happy,” Bloom said in early November. “He’s also in a situation where he’s more open than he would have been in the past to thinking about different possibilities with where he’s at in his career, and he understands our focus is more long-term.”

Every team will seek to add to their 2026 roster, as pitching is a premium in the league. Gray at $21 million is a bargain versus paying top dollar and committing years to free agent options like Framer Valdez, Dylan Cease, and Ranger Suarez. All three pitchers are expected to land multi-year deals that could reach $200 million in total value.

With this move the Red Sox increased their payroll by $21 million, but that shouldn’t deter them from making additional key moves to build a complete playoff competitor for 2026 and beyond.