As always, a significant move like that leaves questions. With that in mind, it seemed like the appropriate time to answer a few.
Does the trade for Gray mean the Sox won’t get another starter?
Not necessarily. Keep in mind that in making this trade, the Red Sox didn’t make a huge financial expenditure. With the Cardinals throwing in $20 million, Boston will be on the hook for roughly $20 million in total, divided between Gray’s $31 million salary for 2026 and the $10 million buyout of his mutual option for ’27. If Gray pitches like he has the last couple of years, one year at $20 million of club money is a pretty reasonable price. This potentially leaves room for a free agent starter, and there are plenty on the market.
Also, while the Sox did deal their No. 5 rated prospect per MLB Pipeline in Brandon Clarke in addition to young depth starter Richard Fitts, they didn’t have to dip into their Major League core. This means that if the Sox need Jarren Duran or Wilyer Abreu as a key piece to make another move for a high-end starter, it could still happen.
“I don’t want to paint ourselves into a corner here,” said Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “We felt like there was an opportunity to upgrade our rotation in 2026 and we did that. It’s early in the offseason. There are still opportunities that I anticipate materializing. Exactly what they look like, I’m not sure. But we’re not going to close off any chance to make the team better.”
What is Breslow’s next move likely to be?
While Breslow could grab another arm if the opportunity cost is right, his primary focus leading into the Winter Meetings, which start on Dec. 8, figures to be getting a big bat.
It is well-documented why the Red Sox traded Rafael Devers in June and there’s no turning back from that move. But there’s also no turning back from this: The club has lacked a premier slugger for the middle of the lineup since that day Devers was sent to the Giants.
Pete Alonso, the right-handed masher, is a free agent for the second straight offseason. Maybe this time, without the qualifying offer attached to him, he will be more likely to get the long-term deal he is seeking. The Red Sox will be monitoring the free agent situations of Bo Bichette and Kyle Schwarber closely. Both of those players are attached to the qualifying offer, which means Boston will have to provide Draft compensation in the event of a signing.
“We’ve been pretty transparent about our desire to add to the rotation and our desire to add a bat on the position player side,” said Breslow. “It’s impossible to know exactly what the order of operations will be, so we’ll continue to look for opportunities to improve the team.”
Why is Gray different from Buehler?
A gut reaction for a Red Sox fan is that the club signed a short-term deal with another proven righty in his 30s last offseason with Walker Buehler and it didn’t come close to working out. Buehler was released on Aug. 29 after several months of inconsistency
But there is a big difference: Buehler’s previous three seasons before coming to Boston were marked by injuries and inconsistency, save for his resurgence in the 2024 postseason.
The 36-year-old Gray has logged at least 166 1/3 innings in each of the last three seasons while striking out 200 or more last two seasons.
“Obviously we had Walker here last year. I don’t think anyone would say that it worked out as well as we had hoped,” said Breslow. “But Sonny, he’s got a pretty significant track record of not only performance and consistency, but of shouldering a pretty significant workload. I think two out of the last three years he’s thrown 180-plus innings with what I would call impeccable command. I think they’re fairly different, and we obviously made decisions in each of those cases to go forward with the players. And hopefully the Sonny acquisition works out.”
Last year, Gray threw 589 four-seam fastballs, the highest total of any of the pitches in his eight-pitch mix. Though that only accounted for 21.7 percent of the pitches Gray threw, his fastball percentage could decrease under Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey even more to accentuate the excellence of his offspeed offerings. Gray averaged 91.7 mph with his heater last season — not a very high velocity by today’s standards.
“It will be a great match for Bails and the rest of the pitching group and the philosophies they have in terms of leaning into strength and potentially away from slug and pitching away from fastballs when you have secondaries as your best pitch,” said Breslow.
