Although he has not yet thrown his first ball with the Red Sox, pitcher Sonny Gray has already earned the admiration of all the fans of his new team. On Tuesday, during a videoconference presentation following his trade from the Cardinals, the 36-year-old right-hander directly attacked the New York Yankees, Boston’s arch-rivals.
Not even his past in the Bronx motivated him to soften his words. According to Tim Healey’s report (Boston Globe), Gray threw a dagger into the heart of the Bombers, a team in which he played for a season and a half, between July 2017 and the end of the 2018 campaign.
Revelations against the Yankees
“First of all, I never wanted to go there (to New York)”, Gray said of the trade that sent him from Oakland to the Yankees at the 2017 trade deadline. At the time, the right-hander was one of the most highly regarded pitchers in the American League, but he failed to make a positive impact in the Big Apple.
In his first season he lost seven of his 11 starts and was unable to contribute in the playoffs, while in 2018 he had the second-highest ERA of his career (4.90) in 30 starts and lost his place in the rotation of the team now managed by Aaron Boone.
After his time with the Yankees, Gray worked in Cincinnati, Minnesota and St. Louis for seven seasons (2019-2025), in which he posted a 3.51 ERA, with 66 wins, 50 losses and 1,136 strikeouts. During that span, he was second in the 2023 Cy Young voting (he lost the award to Gerrit Cole).
A new weapon for the Red Sox
After two consecutive seasons with more than 200 strikeouts and at least 165 innings of work, he will now pitch for the Red Sox, who have been aggressive in the market to acquire his services via trade. Boston’s front office has bet on pairing Gray with ace Garrett Crochet at the top of a rotation that will also include Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, not to mention prospects Payton Doyle and Connor Early, who will be waiting for an opportunity.
“It feels good to go somewhere where it’s easy to hate the Yankees,” Sonny Gray added in his aggressive presentation, which is sure to ignite the Red Sox fan base. In addition, his words already guarantee him a hostile return to New York, where his past with the franchise matters little.
Gray will add his name to a list of more than 200 players who have played for the Red Sox and Yankees in MLB history. The last to experience both teams are Aroldis Chapman, Carlos Narvaez, Justin Wilson and Pablo Reyes.
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