One more pitcher has come off the free agent market. The St. Louis Cardinals and starting pitcher Sonny Gray have reportedly agreed to a three-year, $75 million contract, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Gray, 34, is fresh off two impressive years with the Minnesota Twins. His 2023 season was particularly excellent: He had a 2.79 ERA over 32 starts and 181 innings and finished second for the American League Cy Young Award. For the fourth time in his career, he started over 30 games and surpassed 175 innings pitched. He missed no time for injury, a characteristic of his best seasons.
The 2024 season will be Gray’s 12th year in the majors, and the Cardinals will be the fifth team he’s played for. He debuted with the Oakland Athletics in 2013, then headed to the New York Yankees after a midseason trade in 2017. Gray’s time in the Bronx was largely a disaster, but he blossomed after they traded him to the Cincinnati Reds prior to the 2019 season. While he battled injuries, he also underwent a pitching renaissance, which ultimately led him to the Twins.
Gray joins an older Cardinals rotation
The Atlanta Braves were reportedly interested in signing Gray after missing out on Aaron Nola (who returned to the Phillies on a seven-year deal a few weeks ago). But the Cardinals were arguably in greater need of Gray’s services than the Braves. After signing Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, pitchers who are solid mid-rotation pieces, the Cardinals needed a frontline starter to fill the glaring gap at the top of their rotation.
Gray is that guy. He’s older than both Nola and Blake Snell (the remaining top starter on the market) and has a spottier history with injury and consistency, which means he was someone the Cardinals could afford.
It won’t be the youngest rotation in baseball. Gray is 34. Lynn and Gibson are both 36. Steven Matz and Miles Mikolas, their back-end starters, are 32 and 35. And as Gray’s three-year contract indicates, this isn’t a rotation that was built to stay together long term. Matz and Mikolas are signed through 2025, while Lynn and Gibson both signed one-year deals with club options for a second year.
Their rotation isn’t going to blow anyone away, but they’re more than capable of eating innings and putting up an occasional brilliant start. It’s not ideal that four of the five starters will need to be replaced by 2026, but that gives the Cardinals time to figure out what’s next.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
