Gray, a three-time All-Star who finished second in the American League Cy Young Award race in 2023 and struck out more than 200 batters in each of the past two years, agreed to waive his no-trade clause to make the move from St. Louis to Boston.
The 36-year-old Gray was set to make $35 million in the final year of his three-year contract, which included a $30 million club option for 2027. Upon completion of the trade, Boston and Gray negotiated Gray’s $35 million salary for 2026 to $31 million while increasing the buyout of his option from $5 million to $10 million. Gray also has the ability to opt out of the option if the Red Sox exercise it.
TRADE DETAILS
Red Sox get: RHP Sonny Gray, cash considerations
Cardinals get: LHP Brandon Clarke (was Red Sox’s No. 5 prospect), RHP Richard Fitts, PTBNL or cash
Here is a breakdown of this move from all angles, via MLB.com experts:
Why it makes sense for the Red Sox
Via Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne
Coming off their first postseason appearance since 2021, the Red Sox, who were knocked out by the Yankees in an AL Wild Card Series, are looking for some more forward progress in ‘26. Gray could help them achieve that by bolstering the upper end of the club’s rotation. The 36-year-old is coming off a solid season for the Cardinals in which he logged 32 starts and 180 2/3 innings, to go with a 14-8 record, a 4.28 ERA and 201 strikeouts. He led the National League with a 5.29 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
While rumors had persisted that the Sox could have to deal from their logjam of talented outfielders to get a starting pitcher, this transaction allowed Boston to hold on to players like Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu. It remains to be seen if the Sox still move an outfielder at some point, though chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora have both said the DH spot could be useful in moving players around and getting everyone enough at-bats. MORE >
Why it makes sense for the Cardinals
Via Cardinals beat writer John Denton
The trade points toward the kind of full rebuild new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom hinted at after taking over for the departed John Mozeliak following the 2025 season. The Cardinals, who have missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons after they were eliminated in the NL Wild Card Series in ’22, are also hoping to trade veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado and first baseman Willson Contreras this offseason.
Bloom, who worked as an advisor for two years before taking over as the leader in the front office, has worked to overhaul the Cardinals’ player development by adding more talent evaluators, scouts and player-development experts. He has said that he is hopeful of rebuilding the tradition-rich franchise by exchanging high-priced veteran talent for young, promising prospects that better align with the franchise’s next window to win. Clarke, 22, fits the bill. The lefty still lacks the polish of a proven pro, but he has the potential to be a frontline starter down the line. MORE >
Hot Stove implications
Via senior national reporter Mark Feinsand
The addition of Gray gives the Red Sox another arm to slot behind Crochet, one potentially under control for two more seasons depending on how his 2027 option plays out. Gray isn’t the young, controllable arm most believed the Red Sox were seeking — similar to what they did with Crochet a year ago — so it’s possible that Boston continues to monitor the market for pitchers such as MacKenzie Gore, Joe Ryan and Sandy Alcantara, though it’s no lock that any of them will be traded.
The trade shouldn’t have a huge impact on the free-agent market, as the Red Sox were not expected to pursue any of the top four or five starters available. Boston added $31 million to its payroll for 2026 with the acquisition, but that shouldn’t stop the Sox from re-signing Alex Bregman and/or pursuing one of the big bats on the market such as Kyle Schwarber or Pete Alonso.
Diving deep
Via analyst Mike Petriello
“If we’re going to make a starting pitching addition,” Breslow said earlier this month, “I think it should be somebody who can pitch at the front of a rotation, start a playoff game for us.”
Whether or not Gray counts as that, as someone you feel comfortable tagging with Crochet atop the Boston rotation, depends largely on how you evaluate pitchers. On the surface, a 36-year-old pitcher with an ERA trend of 2.79>3.84>4.28 over the last three seasons would seem like large flashing warning signs; on the other hand, ERA isn’t the only (or best) way to evaluate a pitcher, and pretty much every single advanced metric says that Gray still pitched quite well last year, more like a 3.30 to 3.70 pitcher, depending on which one you prefer. (Baseball Prospectus, in particular, adored his season, rating him 11th on their starting pitcher value leaderboards.)
It’s not hard to see why: Gray set a career-best in walks in 2025, with a 5% rate that’s about half of what it was during his time in Cincinnati from 2019-21; combine that with a strikeout rate that’s still above-average, and you get a 5.29 K/BB ratio that’s fourth-best among qualified starters. (Where Crochet and Tarik Skubal are two of the three names better, and the two directly behind are Paul Skenes and Jacob deGrom. It’s a great list.)
He’s also going to a team that might be a very interesting fit for his profile, because Gray’s four-seam fastball was, to put it succinctly, “a bad pitch,” allowing a massive .370 AVG / .585 SLG against, making it one of the weakest four-seamers of any starter who didn’t call Coors Field home. Guess which team is recently (in)famous for being willing to get away from throwing poor fastballs just for the sake of saying they did? The Boston Red Sox.
He’s a good add, especially if he lives up to the 4-WAR projection FanGraphs has placed on him — not unreasonable, given that he’s been worth 5.4, 3.8, and 3.6 over the last three years. He’d be Boston’s No. 2, but also a top-20 pitcher in the sport, if he did that, which is more than good enough for Breslow’s desire to add someone who can “start a playoff game.” He makes Boston better than they were yesterday, undoubtedly, and they reportedly got St. Louis to put in $20 million towards his salary, too, which gives them plenty of room to add the bat they still need. Tidy work, that, but at a high prospect price: in addition to Fitts, Boston had to surrender Clarke, a hard-throwing lefty prospect who struck out 35% of batters he faced in the Minors this year. Kicking in right-now salary to access higher-talent prospects? It’s exactly what a rebuilding team like St. Louis ought to be doing.
Stat to know
Via MLB.com research staff
201: Gray’s strikeout total in 2025. Crochet led MLB with 255 K’s, making the Red Sox one of only two clubs that currently employ multiple pitchers who tallied at least 200 strikeouts this past season. The Phillies (Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez) are the other. Gray and Crochet are also two of the five pitchers to record 200-plus K’s in each of the past two years, along with Skubal, Dylan Cease and Freddy Peralta.