The reaction of Red Sox fans to the Sonny Gray trade makes it clear that he peaked with the Twins

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals traded former Twins right-handed starting pitcher Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for right-handed pitcher Richard Fitts and left-handed pitcher Brandon Clarke, who was St. Louis’ No. 5 pick at the time of the deal, per MLB Pipeline.

The Cardinals will send the Red Sox $20 million to cover a portion of Gray’s 2026 salary and the buyout of his $30 million club option for 2027. After the trade, Boston negotiated Gray’s salary from $35 million for next season to $31 million and increased the buyout of his 2027 option from $5 million to $10 million. Gray can also opt out of the option if the Red Sox exercise it.

While some Red Sox fans are excited to add a pitcher who finished second in the American League Cy Young standings two years ago and struck out more than 200 batters over the past two seasons, others find the deal disappointing. Gray, 36, likely has some gas left in his tank, but he’s unlikely to repeat the success he saw with the Twins in 2023.

The reaction of Red Sox fans to the Sonny Gray trade makes it clear that he peaked with the Twins

WEEI’s Nick Stevens said he’s not a big fan of the Boston Red Sox acquiring Sonny Gray for the price they paid.

“Consider me questionable. There are so many reasons to not necessarily want to put all your faith and trust in Sonny Gray’s basket,” Stevens said. “Number one, that guy stinks against the Yankees. And he couldn’t pitch in New York either, and last time I checked, Boston is about as big a media market, or at least as big a baseball media market with a lot of scrutiny and media galore, which I’m not sure this guy thrives in.”

The Oakland Athletics traded Gray midseason to the New York Yankees in 2017. Gray posted a 3.72 ERA (4.87 FIP) over 65 1/3 innings with New York in 2017 before posting a 4.90 ERA (4.17 FIP) over 130 1/3 innings with the Yankees in 2018. In two playoff starts in 2017, he allowed five runs (four earned) over 8 1/3 playoff innings with the Yankees.

Understandably, many Red Sox fans are somewhat disappointed with the Gray trade, as many of them want someone like Joe Ryan or Dylan stops to be the No. 2 starting pitcher behind Garrett Crochet, and it appears that mid-30s Sonny Gray will fill that role instead. However, it’s probably unfair to jump to the conclusion that Gray will stink with the Red Sox just because he wasn’t great with the Yankees almost a decade ago. Sure, he hasn’t been able to repeat his 2023 success over the past two seasons, but Gray still has elite strikeouts and could help the Red Sox win their first World Series since 2018.