Newly acquired Boston Red Sox starter Sonny Gray did not enjoy his time with the New York Yankees. Gray hasn’t really made it a secret that he wasn’t a fan of playing in New York, but he took his hate to another level during his introductory presser with the Red Sox on Tuesday.
Gray immediately re-ignited the rivalry between himself and Yankees fans, saying, “It feels good to me to go to a place where it’s easy to hate the Yankees.”
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He later added, “I never wanted to go [to New York] in the first place.”
That should be music to the ears of all Red Sox fans.
While it’s not uncommon for some athletes to pander to their new fan base, that’s not the case with Gray. He’s spoken publicly a few times about why he hated playing for the Yankees. In 2019, he said the team wanted him to prioritize throwing sliders, something Gray said wasn’t a good fit for his pitch mix. He blamed the team for making him throw “a s***ty spinning pitch” more often than he was comfortable.
Gray’s unease in New York came through in his numbers. After an excellent start to his career in Oakland, Gray was shipped to New York at the 2017 MLB trade deadline. While his ERA didn’t rise too much that first season, there were some troubling signs under the surface. Gray’s strikeout rate dropped, his walk rate increased and he starting giving up a ton of home runs in the second half in New York.
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That came back to hurt Gray in a big way in 2018. The reduced strikeout rate and increased walk rate stayed, and Gray posted a 4.90 ERA over 130 1/3 innings with the Yankees. He eventually lost his spot in the rotation, finishing the year in the bullpen.
The Yankees had enough at that point, trading Gray to the Cincinnati Reds in the offseason. Gray immediately got his career back on track, making the All-Star Game in his first season with the Reds. Since then, Gray has generally performed like a top-of-the-rotation starter. He has a 3.51 ERA since leaving the Yankees, and has made two All-Star appearances. Gray even managed a second-place finish in the Cy Young award voting in 2023, when he was with the Minnesota Twins.
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Despite his age, the 36-year-old Gray has aged gracefully. His reliance of throwing a ton of pitches, many with different types of spin, has allowed him to stave off decline as he’s gotten older. Despite an elevated 4.28 ERA last season, there were signs Gray got unlucky, and could show improvement in his first season with the Red Sox.
Boston obviously believes that’s the case, as it gave up two young pitchers to acquire Gray in November. Both the franchise and its fans probably feel even better after Gray spent his first moments with his new club denigrating its most-hated rival.
