BOSTON — A player with a no-trade clause has the rare freedom to have a say in his future baseball home. It usually involves deliberation with the family, some sort of pro/con list and a discussion with other confidants.
He essentially couldn’t say yes fast enough.
Gray was candid with Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom at the end of the regular season that a new destination was probably best for a player still trying to win a World Series and a club that is embarking on a rebuild.
A few weeks later, when Bloom told Gray who was interested, he couldn’t believe his good fortune.
“[Bloom] said the Red Sox, and I immediately in my head was like, ‘Yes.’ And then there were a lot of logistics that had to be worked out between my agent [and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow],” Gray said. “But, yeah, it was an immediate yes in my head, and I told my agent that.”
Considering that the worst stretch of Gray’s solid career came during his brief stint with the Yankees (2017-18), it surprised some that the veteran righty was so eager to jump back into it in another northeast region that is rabid about baseball.
Did his sour experience with New York enter into his thinking at all with this trade?
“It didn’t, but that is a fair question,” Gray said. “I appreciate the question, because I’m sure I will get that question a decent amount. New York just wasn’t a good situation for me. It wasn’t a great setup for me and my family. I never wanted to go there in the first place. When that was kind of happening, when we were in Oakland and getting traded, that was a long time ago. I never wanted to go there.”
But now, he’s at a different stage of life and in his baseball career. During Tuesday’s Zoom call, Gray wore a 2007 World Series champion Red Sox hat that he’d purchased along with a bunch of other team garb shortly after the deal was done.
Why the attachment to the Red Sox and Boston?
“It started early,” Gray said. “Obviously, it started when you’re little, and you watch them on TV, right? The Green Monster is always a special thing. It’s just a unique, unique thing. When I went to Vanderbilt, you’ve got to remember Tim Corbin was the coach, and you’ve got to remember where he’s from [New Hampshire]. You’ve gotta look at the Vanderbilt baseball field. There’s a Green Monster in left field. We played ‘Sweet Caroline’ after the seventh inning my whole career at Vanderbilt. Went to the [College] World Series there.
“And then going [and] doing Team USA, we were always going to Fenway and playing games there and doing that before we did … go over there and play the Japanese national team and everything. I remember going to a Boston game, watching Josh Beckett pitch. I remember I had a Boston hat. So when I say I am more Boston than any other place, there’s a lot that goes into that.”
For Gray, Boston is a big city that feels like a small and unintimidating one.
“I always felt like it’s a low-rise city that doesn’t just feel like you’re surrounded by [big buildings],” said Gray. “You can see the sky. Things like that are important to me.”
But for Gray, the thing most important to him is the thing that eluded him in Oakland, New York, Cincinnati, Minnesota and St. Louis.
“It’s pretty much one of the only things that is continuing to push me, continuing to try to get better in this game, is to get to a World Series, to win a World Series, to pitch in big games,” Gray said. “I love the moment, and I am chasing that moment. Getting to a World Series [and] winning the World Series is at the very top of that list.
“Where I’m at in my career and in my life is I definitely haven’t accomplished everything in the game that I want to, and a World Series, and making a deep run in the postseason and winning the World Series is definitely one of those things that I haven’t been able to accomplish,” Gray said.
To get to that World Series he so covets, Gray will have to be at the top of his game as one of Boston’s main starters behind Garrett Crochet. The 36-year-old looks forward to continuing to evolve. He has a meeting scheduled with Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey on Thursday.
“I hope there are changes, to be honest with you, because I think if you’re not constantly changing and you’re not constantly adapting, I think that you’re going to be stagnant,” Gray said.
