The Boston Red Sox pulled off a surprise early-offseason blockbuster on Tuesday.

As Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported on Tuesday morning, the Red Sox are in agreement with the St. Louis Cardinal on a trade that will bring three-time All-Star starting pitcher Sonny Gray to Boston.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Red Sox are sending left-handed pitcher Brandon Clarke and righty Richard Fitts to St. Louis in the deal. According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Cardinals are also sending $20 million in cash considerations, and with a reworked contract for this season, his salary will be $31 million with a $10 million buyout for next season.

The most important thing, though, is that the Red Sox got a pitcher they should feel confident in putting on the mound for the bulk of a playoff game. And they might well not be done yet.

Sonny Gray still has No. 2 potential

Gray is entering his age-36 season, and his 4.23 ERA in 32 starts this year doesn’t exactly scream “ace.” But there are a lot of other things to like about Gray’s underlying data and track record, both recent and long-term.

Gray struck out 201 batters, notching back-to-back 200-strikeout seasons for the first time in his career. His 3.39 FIP sugggests his ERA was fairly unlucky this season, and he also led the national league in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 5.29.

It’s a big return for the Cardinals, as Clarke showed out in High-A with 60 strikeouts in 38 innings this year and Fitts has back-end rotation potential. But the Red Sox sensed an opportunity to avoid a similar rotation situation they ran into at the end of this season.

Are the Red Sox done adding starting pitching? That’s going to be a question chief baseball officer Craig Breslow gets asked a lot at the winter meetings in two weeks, and he has the opportunity to silence them quickly if he pulls off another addition.

Either way, the Red Sox couldn’t leave the offseason without a pitcher of Gray’s caliber, and they got the deal done early. That leaves a world of possibilities still on the table, and make no mistake: Boston took a step forward in its quest for a deep 2026 playoff run on Tuesday.

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