The St. Louis Cardinals Trade of Sonny Gray To Boston JOLTS MLB — Experts GRADE the SHOCKING move!
Sunny Gay’s blockbuster move to the Red Sox has sent shock waves across baseball. Today, we break down the trade grades, fan reactions, and hidden consequences that could shape the St. Louis Cardinals future. You are Locked On Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hey there Cardinal fans. I’m JD Hford, a former national radio sports anchor, born and raised in St. Louis and a lifetime Cardinals fan. Welcome to Locked on Cardinals, part of the Lock on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you to our everydayers for continuing to be here with us. And for those of you who are new, welcome in. I do hope that you enjoy the content. This is a show serving Cardinal Nation and giving you all the info about the birds on the bat. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the app today. On today’s show, we’re going to get some of your reactions as the fans to yesterday’s big trade involving Sunny Gay going to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for pitchers Richard Fitz and Brandon Clark. Uh, I’ll share with you um what a lot of the uh trade grades are going to be, what I think the future is going to be u as far as like who’s going to be next to to go uh off the Cardinals roster. But let’s start with those ever popular trade grades, which is always something that it’s hard to judge in my opinion because you have to give trades a chance to play out before you can really look at it and decide whether it was a good or a bad deal. I mean, how many times have you looked at a trade and you of course we’re all going to have like an immediate reaction to it. You know, some are you’re going to feel one way or another just right off the bat. You know, people yesterday family members were like because I have family members who are are Red Sox fans as well as Cardinal fans obviously and most of them are Cardinal fans, but my my nephews and stuff cuz my family lived in Boston for a little while anyway. But they had a reaction like, “Oh my gosh, we don’t want Sunny Gray. What is this?” Whereas the Cardinal fan side are like, “Oh my gosh, we’re losing Sunny Gray. This is this is terrible.” Um, it’s going to happen, right? I mean, you got to wait till things play out. And, you know, maybe you have one reaction at the beginning and then you change your mind later on. The deal that comes to mind where I was like that was the Jim Edmonds for David Freeze deal. At first you have Edmonds, you know, this guy that’s been insane for you for a very long time. One of your MV3 perennial gold glove winner, helped you win championships, and you move him along for a minor league third baseman. What? And at first glance, you’re like, what? What is this? But in the end, David Fes ends up being a key piece to your championship team later on down the road. It’s arguably the biggest home run in Cardinals history. And Jimmy Ball game ended up bouncing around to the Cubs, the Brewers, and the Reds before hanging up his cleats. So, it worked out wonderful. But at the time, you’re like, “Ah man, we’re losing Jim Edmonds.” But in the end, it worked out. So, we won’t know how well this trade works out until a couple of years down the line. But that doesn’t stop folks from giving out trade grades on these things right away, which is fine because it’s fun. It’s entertaining. I like to hear what other people’s opinions are. Um, what people are saying around the league and keep in mind that since, you know, Sunny Gray is the is the big name that’s moving here, Richard Fitz and Brandon Clark are not the big names, although they’re the ones that we’re going to focus on moving forward here shortly, but uh, Sunny Gay is the big name. So, these grades are based mostly on Boston’s point of view for a lot of it, but also give thoughts on what the Cardinals got in return. So, uh, let’s start with ESPN, who gave the trade a B+ for Heim Bloom and company, um, saying Gray did throw his three fastball variants 53% of the time. So, maybe the Red Sox suggests a different pitch mix. The four seamer, while it gives him the one pitch Gray throws up in the zone, has been hammered two years in a row now, but was still the pitch he threw most often in 2025. Overall, Gray plugs a big hole without the Red Sox paying out a long-term contract. And the Red Sox didn’t give up anybody who projected to be an impact player for them in 2026. Who and didn’t believe that they overpaid with Kylie McDaniel rating Clark as the number nine prospect in Boston back in August. And while there’s obvious upside, if everything comes together, he’s not close to the majors. And the profile screams reliever risk. So they they aren’t huge on what the Cardinals got in return there, but uh they they think that B+ overall, especially for the Boston side of things. Now, USA Today gave it a B-grade for Boston, but a B+ for the Cardinals where they they gave off two grades in this one. So, um, USA Today says, “Gray is aging, but he’s still a solid veteran starter who has won 27 games over the past two seasons. And who can still can still have the potential to be a sub4 RA pitcher? He’ll lead up some innings, too. They didn’t break the bank and get an upgrade in the rotation. Seems solid, if unspectacular. Plus, the Cardinals are paying some money for Gray, which helps. Fitz, and this is where they go into the Cardinal side of things, had just an okay full year for the Socks with a five RA and 10 starts, but he’s young and there’s potential there. It seems that Clark is among the top five prospects for the for the Socks. So, that’s a really good return there. The Athletic, they actually had two people chime in on this one. Chad Jennings was the first one. Gave it an A minus for Boston and an Agrade for the Cardinals, saying the Red Sox are ready to win. And among their most glaring short-term needs, a problem that already hurt them in the playoffs this season was a number two starter behind Garrick Crochet. Gray fills that void, offering experience and strikeouts without issuing a ton of walks. He’s a rental and not especially cheap, even with the Cardinals covering roughly half of his salary. But he fits the moment and positions the Red Sox as a team committed to winning. The Cardinals, on the other hand, are where the Red Sox were five years ago. They’re resetting and another year of Gray would have been a waste. They’re paying down his enormous salary, but are getting two big arms in return, one of whom and Fitz, they can immediately move into Gray’s rotation spot. Fitz isn’t an ace, but he is a solid option with the raw stuff to potentially fall back into a multi-inninging relief role. Clark is farther away, but offers greater upside and again has a solid floor as a hard throwing reliever. Two big arms are a quality return for an overpaid rental. So, some harsh words there for what Sunny Gray is. Um, and the other person for the Athletic, Zach Meiselle, gave it a B+ grade for both teams, saying that Sunny just turned 36, posted his highest ERA since 2018. A peak under the hood, though suggests there’s nothing too alarming. Yeah, his high his hit rate increased to about one per inning. Again, his highest mark in seven years, but he still doesn’t walk anyone. He was one of 12 pitchers with 200 strikeouts. His fifth of 3.39 alleviates some of the concern with his 4.28 RA. You just need him to keep the ball in Fenway Park. His 25 home runs allowed were a careerhigh. His hard stuff gets whacked. Hitters logged a 585 slugging percentage against his fast ball. And that’s why he only throws it about 22% of the time. This sweeper is awesome. Hitters at a 239 slugging percentage and a 42.3% 42.3% whiff rate against it. Just throw that, man. His curveball still pretty good though. And that’s something that we’ve said many times here at Lockton Cardinals that you know uh Sunny Gay’s biggest problem since he’s come to the Cardinals is just keeping the ball in the ballpark. And it was something that he did really really well when he was with the Minnesota Twins and it doubled and tripled uh in the next in the two years that he was with St. Louis. So that was a problem. The long ball kept burning him. Um Meiselle continues here saying that as for the Cardinals, what were they going to do with a 36-year-old starter anyway? They’ve been bracing everyone for a rebuild and they just forked over $20 million to jump start it. Fitz can slide right into the rotation and Bloom can start daydreaming about making his old organization regret bailing on Clark. These teams were a great match and it’s entirely possible that both sides wind up pleased just at drastically different times. The move is for the future. What I like about the trade, and it’s what I was hoping they would do in a deal with Sunny Gray, was that that they could get somebody to that can jump right into the rotation already, which is what Richard Fitz does, or Dick Fitz, as uh everybody wants to call him. I did Boston have as much fun with this guy’s name as we are already. Like, it’s it’s fantastic. like I’ve gotten so many texts and so many jokes sent to me and uh it seems to be one of the things that Cardinal fans are more excited about. Not that he’s had a pretty good career in the Miners and he’s young and has a lot of talent, but he’s got a fun name that we can make jokes about with Richard Fitz, but um that was one one thing that I I I definitely wanted. I need needed somebody that could go into the rotation this year because they’re very thin. So, they needed somebody like that. And I like the fact that they got a high, you know, big ceiling prospect. Do we know if he’s going to work out or not? No, we got no idea. He’s 22 years old. Clearly, he’s had some issues already. Uh but it it’s something that you’re you’re willing to take a chance on just so you can clear some money and move on. And that’s what they’ve done here. So, uh I don’t really have an issue with the trade. Um they got the two things that I wanted them to get. We knew they were going to have to eat some money. Not a shocker. People who were upset that they’re spending $20 million. It’s not your money. What do you care? Like they they they wanted to get rid of him. He wanted to go. That’s what happened. Um I’ve got more trade grades, a couple more of these that I want to get to that includes another Agrade for the Cardinals return. Plus, we’ll get to the fan reactions as well because not everybody is as pleased as uh some of the experts are with what the Cardinals got and uh with this trade just in general. So, we’ll get into all that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Sometimes life it just takes over. You’ve got a lot going on. You know, it’s Thanksgiving time now, so a lot of family commitments that you’re going to have to make could cause you to miss the start of one of the games on Thanksgiving Day or any of the NBA games in the future. 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Thanks for making Lock on Cardinals your first listen every day and thank you for making Locked on the number one sports podcast network. You guys rock. If you enjoy daily Cardinals content, you can follow the podcast on X at l_cardinals. We’re available on YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram at Lockdown Cardinals as well. Uh we’re scrolling through some of the national trade grades for the Cardinals with their uh deal with the Boston Red Sox. Sunny Gray going to them prospects and Richard Fitz coming back. I shouldn’t say prospects. They’re both kind of prospects, right? Like Richard Fitz is not some some wy veteran, you know, he’s 25. So two prospects coming back really from the Boston Red Sox. Up next, we’ve got, let’s see, Baseball America who did not give a trade grade. They didn’t actually put like a letter grade down, but they had some thoughts and things to say about the Cardinal new acquisitions. First talking about Brandon Clark, which is the guy that most people want to talk about. He’s the guy that has got the the triple digit fast, the wipeout slider, young, exciting arm. Um, Baseball America says Brandon Clark blew away scouts in the Red Sox spring breakout game and on the back fields in minor league spring training. After dominating the low A Carolina league to begin the season, Clark was promoted to high A Greenville. There he struggled with command and health. Clark did only one stint on the injured list in 25, but he missed a month at two different points in the season. He was shut down in May and didn’t return until the end of June. His season ended on August 15th when the Red Sox placed him on the IIL with recurring blister issues, which was something that Heim Bloom was asked about in his press conference yesterday. I think it was Derek Gould that asked the question about it and um from SCL today and you know him was like yeah you know it’s something that when when people have these kind of uh pitches and this kind of ability you know things like blister issues pop up and it’s something that we have to learn to deal with and figure out a way to avoid them. So uh Clark this is back to baseball America by the way Clark possesses some of the best power stuff in the minors. He mixes both four seam and two seam fast balls with the two seamer, the better of the two. He generates outlier velocity on both sitting 96 98 and touching 100 at peak. Clark’s best pitch is an upper 80s sweeper with one of the most outlier combinations of velocity and movement among the sweeper genre. There are major questions around Clark’s strike throwing and durability making him a likely reliever long term. Despite this, his raw traits are so exciting, it would be a fool’s errand to ride off his ability to start. And I mentioned this yesterday that he might like sound like when you’re when you’re talking about two awesome pitches and then a lot of after that that he sounds like he’s got the makeup of like an outstanding reliever. But why would you immediately push him into that role? you will try him as a starter and see if you can get more mileage out of him that way before making that switch to just a relief role. Um, Baseball America continues here over the last two seasons talking about Fitz. Now, Fitz has spent a large part of his year in the majors. He was shut down in August with arm neuritis. The rare condition affected nerves around Fitz’s biceps and avoided any damage to his UCL. The lack of durability has been a concern for Fitz as he was held to a total of 75 innings this season. When healthy, Fitz shows a back-end starter profile with good enough stuff for his pitch mix to play up if he’s moved to the bullpin long term. He did a good job diversifying his options for generating outs in 25 as he drove more ground ball contact than at any point in his career after introducing a sinker. mixes a forcing fast ball that sits 95 97 with a sinker in the 94 96 range, upper 80s slider, lower 80s curveball, and a rarely used change up. Fitz should factor into the Cardinals rotation plans for the upcoming season. So, they’re not the only ones that mention that Fitz is no guarantee that he he stays in the rotation later on in his career. for 2026, he’s going to be in the rotation. Unless the Cardinals end up getting, you know, another starter in the free agent market and then a trade that brings in another one, he’s going to be in the starting rotation this year. They they didn’t acquire him to go down there and be a long, you know, long relief guy. That’s not the idea. Uh, one last one here. This one from CBS who gave the Cardinals an Agrade saying that Fitz 26 in a matter of weeks has compiled it was going to be 26 in a matter of weeks. Some of the writing on these things are awful. Anyway, Fitz, who will be 26 in a matter of weeks, has compiled a 3.97 RA and a 105 RA plus and a 2.13 strikeout to walk ratio in 15 big league appearances over the past two seasons. His 2025 campaign was ravaged by injury. May 1st, he missed more than a month after straining a pectoral muscle. Then following his return to the majors, he had his season end after experiencing nuritis in his throwing arm. I believe I’m saying it the the right way. Nuritis, I think so. If I’m not, you can make fun of me in the comments. I’m not a doctor. So much of pitching revolves around keeping batters honest and creating tough optical angles. Fitz has both dynamics working in his favor. He threw five pitches at least 9% of the time last season and all of them graded as average or better in the eyes of the analytic models. Uh we’ll get a picture of back up here. That group includes a mid90s fast ball and a sweeper that in a smaller sample generated a 40% whiff rate. Fitz marries that broad arsenal to an interesting release point. He ranked in the 70th percentile in extension or distance from the pitcher rubber to release. Yet his higher arm angle enables his pitches to a steeper angle to them or gives the enables his pitches a steeper angle to them than what is typical for pitchers to get a similar distance down the mount. Provided Fitz is healthy come this spring, he ought to spend considerable time in St. Louis’s rotation. Injury risk aside, he’s the stable portion of the return that’s ready to provide immediate production. The other pitcher is Clark, Brandon Clark, the proverbial long-term moonshot, who will test the Cardinals new player development staff. Clark is 22, split last season between Aball affiliates and 14 total appearances, managed a 4.03 RA and a 2.22 strikeout to walk ratio, albeit while averaging more than six walks per nine innings. His arsenal includes a fastball that sits in the mid90s and a devastating breaking ball. His low release point fits the modern preference. The drawback is that Clark’s arm action requires a long sweeping stroke and the kind of elbow creep that may always impact his command and his health. If the Cardinals can help him make any progress with his location, he could turn this into a lopsided swap. So, an A return there for the Cardinals according to CBS. Uh, I was also watching videos. Ken Rosenthal came on and you know he talked about both sides where you know he likes that Boston got Sunny Gray is very much skeptical on whether or not he is that number two guy that should be sliding behind Garrett Crochet. He thinks maybe they still look and find somebody else on the market to uh really be the number two and then Gray can be their number three and then he thinks they’d be in business. Um Gabby from Locked on Red Sox kind of has the same thoughts. likes that Sunny gets the strikeouts. Obviously not a fan of the home run ball, but um likes the deal in general, but is still hoping that the Red Sox will go out and grab somebody that’s another tier above what Sunny Gray is right now to be the number two behind Crochet and then Sunny be the number three to to really give them a top-of-the-line trio. Um but Rosal also like the deal for the Cardinals. You know, he he likes the upside of Clark. thinks Fitz is going to be a nice hate to say it this way, but Fitz is going to be a nice fit for the Cardinals rotation. He’s young. He trusts Time Bloom and, you know, thinks that the Cardinals did a good job. Um, so overall, I mean, and I’ve been going through a lot of these. I haven’t heard a lot of people talk negatively about what the Cardinals got in return. There’s risk. There is risk involved. There’s risk involved in every trade. Anytime you get a young arm, we don’t know what’s going to happen. like any of these guys’ arms could blow out at any moment. We don’t know. And the fact that both of them have dealt with some sort of injuries already. Uh obviously that’s a little more risk involved there. But Hen Bloom said it was the best offer they got. Sunny Gray was willing to wave his trade his no trade clause and they were able to work something out. So overall it seems pretty pretty positive. Um, but just because the experts seem to like the deal doesn’t mean that the fans, the Cardinal fans, our fans are all that thrilled about what just went down. I’m going to share some of those reactions coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Thanks for making lockdown on Cardinal your first listen every day. For your second listen, check out Lock MLB hosted by my guy Sully. brings you a daily blend of humor and baseball throughout the offseason. You can find Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. All right, time for the Cardinal confessions where I read your thoughts. The the Cardinal fans, Cardinal Nation, the ones who are are are bold enough and have enough courage to actually write in and let their thoughts be published, if you will. Now, I don’t call you out by name because I don’t need people yelling at you. That’s not what this is for. But I love getting the reactions and when it comes to hot topics and subjects that are going on, I want to know what you’re thinking. And the trade on Sunny with Sunny Gray is obviously the the biggest topic right now. Flooding my inbox. And like I said, the experts seem to be pretty cool with what the Cardinals got. You know, there’s risk. They like that Boston got Sunny, but they understand why that’s kind of risky, too. You know, is he going to be good enough for them? But um not everyone is chipper about the deal or as chipper about the deal as the national media is. Uh so let’s go through a couple of these. First one says, “Had me on the prospects, lost me on the $20 million. Would have preferred a third name in the deal. Gray isn’t that busted for the Cardinals to eat that much salary. I’m surprised on the money going back and with only two prospects to show for it. Deep breath. Trust the process. Trust the process. Trust the process. All right. So, I mentioned the 20 million earlier. It’s not our money. There’s no salary cap. Who cares? You were going to pay him 35 million. Now, you only got to pay him 20. Although, he’s not going to pitch for you, but you did get a pitcher in return, and you get a prospect with a lot of upside. But I I don’t get, you know, when it comes to like football and stuff like that where there are salary caps, obviously with the Blues and the NHL, I worry about the money more because you only have so much that you can spend. You spend whatever you want in baseball. So, uh, I’m not so worried about the money side of things. Uh, but I see why it bugs people. I get it, but I I I just wouldn’t let it bother me that much. Uh, another one starts off with the money saying, “We’re still paying 20 million of his salary. This is a poop show of a trade and I’m ready to fire Bloom right now. I mean, we drafted a closer in the first round of the MLB draft. He’s talking about Liam Doyle. Then traded an ace for basically a bag of balls, but maybe a couple big league innings from future relievers. I mean, the ceiling for one of these prospects is a five-hole rotation guy. Please fire this man before we’re two years into his rebuild. So, not trusting the process that Him Bloom has set in motion here. I’m willing to give Him the benefit of the doubt. You know, his job is to rebuild this farm system and at the same time remain competitive at the major league level, but rebuilding the farm system is number one. And that’s what he’s done. He’s gotten two prospects in exchange for an older veteran at age 36 that didn’t really want to be in St. Louis anymore. Not because there was something wrong with St. Louis, the city, not that he disliked the Cardinals, but he wants to go somewhere to win. So, why would you keep that guy around? Um, and what good is he doing? Like the last two years, they haven’t won anything. They haven’t won squat with Sunny Gray there, so what’s the point? Um, another one says, “They sent his butt in 21 million. Fat that. I will burn all my lifelong Cardinals memorabilia except for the baseball I have signed by Red Shane Dies. Good call. That’s a good one to keep. Uh, if they get rid of Britain Donovan and Alec Burles, that’s the secondary part that he’s gonna burn all of his stuff except for the baseball. If they get rid of Donnie and Alec Berles, I don’t give a poop how much they’re worth to another team. They should be worth everything to our team. Um, they don’t have to trade Donovan and Burles. So, um, I don’t think Burley is going anywhere. Donovan, it might happen. It might happen. So, will you only burn half of it if just one of them goes? Uh, the Cardinals are headed for a horrible demise if they don’t hold on to two of the hardest working blue collar players in the MLB. You’re the one with the checkbook. Your great grandchildren are going to prosper. Or ask people if they’d like fries with that, depending upon where you go with this team. The most loyal fan base in MLB is tired of it. Um, yeah, but as I’ve said before, like I if you want you don’t want to go through the rebuild and nobody wants to do that really, but the other option is just putting band-aids on the problems, right? And the problem is you need to grow your own stars and you need to be able to take advantage of a stellar farm system to use not only for your own team but as trade pieces to go get bigger pieces later on down the road. It’s how they used to do it and that’s where things faltered under the final years of John Mos is that the farm system was not very good and then the guys that they did bring up that they thought were going to be good have not been very good. Hence where we are at this day and age. Um these these are getting angrier by the way. Looks like the Pirates won’t be in last place this year. Cardinals trade real pitcher for B socks trash pitchers. Great way to rebuild. This is not a good deal for St. Louis. Sunny Grey will win the Sai Young award in Boston next year. Might want to go to FanDuel and put some money on that one if that’s a if you feel that strongly about because it’s in all caps by the way. You feel that strongly about that. I can’t imagine the odds are great for Sunny Gray to win that, but hey, take advantage. Uh, let’s do one more. Fitz is major league ready. Clark looks like I’m losing my voice. What is this? Excuse me. Fitz is major league ready. Clark looks like crap. He has injury issues and is wild with his control. Lots of hit by pitches and wild pitches. Not a good trade, but I get it. Dimwit wanted to remove salary. Let’s hope they get more for Donovan. Now, they aren’t all like this, but I wanted to give you a taste of what some of the reactions were. I would say the majority of the comments I got about the deal, people understood. People understood why it’s happening. They see the upside in Fitz and Clark. But I think more than anything, it really is more of a reality check for some fans that this is gonna be a rebuild and this is going to take a couple years before we get back to where you want to be. Uh, some fans I think were still holding out hope that the Gardles would hang on to Sunny and have him lead the the young staff moving forward this year, but like I mentioned, Sunny was clearly ready to move on. You could tell at the end of last season, he was like, you know, I I came here to win and we’re not doing that. So, yeah, I’m kind of open to moving on. He did want to be a part of a rebuild. I don’t blame him. It’s his choice, his career. He wants to win. Wave the no trade clause to do it. Um, keep your thoughts and comments coming. We’re going to continue to monitor the trade situation with the team because, you know, they surely aren’t done yet. Who’s next to go? In my opinion, they gotta get whatever they are going to do with Nolan Aronado out of the way and get that done first. That that’s got to be the next domino in my eyes. Uh, just because that involves the money. How much are they going to eat, which will let you know what’s left over to do whatever Hein Bloom wants to do at the major league level. It would also involve opening up a spot on the infield. Then you can start fielding your calls for Nolan Gorman and Brandon Donovan. Although saw today that Katie Woo from the Athletic posted that the Cardinals do not need to trade Donovan and will do so only if they are blown away by an offer that according to a team source. She also reminded folks that there is a lot of interest in him. So, to me, that means that a much better package could and should be in the works and coming back to the Cardinals in exchange for Brendon Donovan compared to what they just got for Sunny Gray. Sunny Gray was owed a lot of money. He’s older. He’s not under contract after this year. You know that it’s got to be a mutual thing. Uh, so Donovan’s in a different boat. He’s also an everyday player. He’s much younger. Finalist for the silver slugger award this past year. He’s won a gold glove. He can do a number of different things. The package is going to be a lot bigger and a lot better in return for Brendon Donovan. But it they don’t have to trade him. They don’t have to. But if they get blown away from a deal, and that’s what Katie warns is like the way the interest has been and what she’s hearing, a lot of people are after him, which means good deal for the Cardinals should be coming our way if it happens. So, more to come for sure. Once again, Die Hard 2 is the season comes to mind when they ask John Mlan if this is what he expected and he just shakes his head and says, “Nope, this is only the beginning.” Thanks for making lock on Carlo’s first listen every day. If you haven’t already, give us a follow on at l_cardinal at ajsportsradio. Tik Tok and Instagram at lockdown Cardinals. Like, subscribe on YouTube and help our channel and love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans in baseball for a reason. We’ll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.
St. Louis Cardinals ignite a bold rebuild with the blockbuster Sonny Gray trade to the Boston Red Sox. Will emerging arms Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke anchor the next great rotation, or did the Cardinals pay too steep a price by eating $20 million to move their veteran ace?
0:00 – Sonny Gray Trade Breakdown
11:15 – National Trade Grades & Analysis
22:10 – Cardinals Fan Reactions
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27 comments
Do you agree with the national media's trade grades for the Cardinals? If NOT, what else did you want in return?
I like the trade. You have a possible good middle rotation guy and another guy with exceptional upside. They could both be busts as well but what did you expect to get for a 36 yr old pitcher showing signs of decline on a ridiculously high one year contract. I think the return can be possibly great.
Even if the lefty can’t be a starter. A plus fastball and slider will be solid out of the pen.
I thought these were the smartest fans in baseball ?????
The Cardinals fans are smart went out the window once you started reading some of the messages. Of course I have kind of been noticing that for a while. Some people have things in their "minds" and will never be happy with anything.
This so-called team rebuild is nothing more than owner Dewitts no longer caring about the team. He's practically leading it to disaster, turning it into just another losing, lackluster team with mediocre young players lacking any talent. This will cost decades of mediocrity and the loss of fans. The owner won't gain anything by trying to save money by not investing in elite star players, the ones who take teams to the playoffs and the World Series.
JD, shocking move? I don't see no shocking move. Do you?
I see it as a very good sound move.
Hopefully more sound baseball moves will continue by Chaim Bloom.
Both pitchers seem better than the two we got for O'Neill. I think we did better than the last couple years. I hope they get something dynamite for Donovan.
I still think the Cards need a top of the rotation guy. Dick looks like he fitts into the #4/#5 hole, not the front slot.
I'll show myself to the door now. 😂
You got a 22 year old prospect that can hit triple digits!
I do. Sonny wasn't happy with not winning, and he was feeling the itch to go. It sucks to see him go, but that's baseball for ya. There will be huge shifts coming. If Chaim Bloom's track record holds true, then he is going to beef up the farm system to future proof the team. He was never unsuccessful at this, and at this point, I kinda think some big changes need to be made.
It's a solid trade got back something you can possibly use right away and something possible for the future. Yes Clarke future should be in the bullpen. I'm good with that.
Gray's season long 4.28 ERA is misleading. He won 14 games — third highest in NL. Let's say a pitcher throws 14 shutout wins . . . and 14 games where he gives up 8 runs and loses. His ERA is 4.00. Are you any happier if he lost those games giving up 4 runs and has a 2.00 ERA (?) No. It's all about winning games . . .
I like the deal on a couple of different fronts. We got a couple of serviceable pieces, did I think we'll do well at least some above average. But trading Sunday Gray to a winning team here in the Twilight of his career I think the Cardinals did right for him, since he could have said last year trade me and get me out of here, but he didn't He stuck around. That should be rewarded. I think he wound up in maybe the best place that he could have gone. Now we need to seek a deal like that for Arenado, and Wilsson Contreras for that matter. Where we get something in return No need to ask for the moon cuz you're not going to get it, but some serviceable ball players maybe some with a little experience would be nice. I give the trade an A
It's a good deal. I'm looking forward to the Arenado trade.
Happy THinksgiving, One and ALL!!
C+ for Gray trade; for a potential yearly 15 game winner we got a warm body to slot into the back end of the rotation (Fitts), and a lottery ticket with a significant injury history with some upside (Clarke), who at best might be a mid-rotation guy (if we're lucky) but will most likely become a reliever with his wildness issues and delivery issues. We should have gotten more/better, IMO, especially since we've covering 20 mil of Gray's salary. Disappointing.
I love it when you read the fan reactions. They kill me 😂😂
Survey every mlb hitter and ask them: how would you like to face a 6'4" athletic Lefty that has a deceptive arm action, hits triple digits and has an elite slider/sweeper and has some control issues. Nobody liked facing Al Leiter in his prime.
Anybody gonna mention that Clarke has the same scouting report as Randy Johnson minus 6"(maybe dick fitts can help there 😂) . He sucked his first few years now a top 5 all time pitcher. Will he be Randy, no, of course not, but for 1 year of a pitcher we have no use for, AND 6 years of a solid 4/5 starter with a solid pitch mix. Thank you Boston. There's a reason most Sox fans aren't happy.
Fitts 5 ERA was bc of 2 blowup starts his rookie year. Take those out n I think like 3 and 1/2 ish ERA
It's a rebuild I get it, if nothing else we cut 20 million dollars.
At worst, the Cardinals shed salary as the rebuild. At best, they get two potential starters with mid to high upsides.
How about we stop the 8th grade jokes about Fitts name?
Fitts's profile and stats sound more like someone who should be a closer, JD, not a starter.
He has had arm issues with higher innings workload of a starter. Minimizing innings by using him as a closer would be the better way to maximize his ability in StL. We don't have a closer.
With Gray gone, get ready to welcome back Mikolas at a reduced salary in 2026, because giving $20 million to Boston to take Gray means less money on the table to sign a true starter like free agents Framber Valdez, Merrill Kelly or Zac Gallen to replace Gray.
Good luck to Gray, wish him the best. He was a good Cardinal.
Dewitt is a loser pulling same crap as the rams owner did before him . He needs to sell and get out of baseball I'm done with him as owner go Royal's