With the trade deadline still more than a month away, the rumor mill is already warming up, and Sonny Gray’s name is back in the mix for the Atlanta Braves.
A report from Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic says Gray would be an “intriguing match” for Atlanta if the Boston Red Sox decide to sell. That’s the key condition here: Boston has to move into seller mode first, and that remains a big if.
Gray, now 36, has long been a familiar target for Braves fans. He lives in Nashville and went to Vanderbilt, which has kept the Braves connection alive in fan circles for years. Even so, the fit has never actually happened.
There are a couple of reasons Rosenthal and Sammon see this as a realistic possibility. Gray has a full no-trade clause, which could narrow Boston’s options if it does shop him.
And financially, he would come at a manageable cost for a contender: if he were dealt, he’d be owed about $6 million, with the St. Louis Cardinals already covering half of his salary this season.
Their reporting also notes that the Braves are among several rotation-needy clubs showing interest in Gray, according to people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak freely on the topic.
The Athletic also raised the possibility of Atlanta going after Tarik Skubal, the Detroit Tigers starter who is set to become a free agent, though that part of the discussion was not based on intel.
Elsewhere in the same report, Rosenthal and Sammon repeated their earlier stance that the Kansas City Royals are not expected to trade Michael Wacha or Seth Lugo. If Kansas City keeps both arms, the market for starting pitching gets a lot thinner for everyone else.
For early June, it’s a notable name to track. Just don’t get too attached yet.
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Owen Murphy and JR Ritchie have already given the organization reasons to believe the draft strategy is paying off, even if neither has fully removed the uncertainty that comes with young arms. Hurston Waldrep, Cam Caminiti and Tate Southisene add more layers to the picture, with each carrying some mix of upside, growing pains and unfinished business that keeps Atlantas draft record from feeling settled just yet. [Read more 🡒]