Red Sox get: RHP Sonny Gray
Cardinals get: LHP Brandon Clarke and RHP Richard Fitts
To complete his first big move since taking over as St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations, Chaim Bloom found a trade partner in his former organization.
Bloom on Tuesday traded starting pitcher Gray to the Boston Red Sox for a pair of hard-throwing young pitchers, Fitts and Clarke. Gray’s contract was reworked so that he’ll make essentially $41 million in 2026, with the Cardinals covering roughly half of that salary. Gray, 36 and coming off a 4.28 ERA, will be a free agent at the end of the year.
For Bloom, the trade is the first significant step of a rebuild in St. Louis, a process he previously underwent in Boston, where the Red Sox are now ready to contend and had publicly acknowledged a desire to add a high-end starter to their rotation.
Chad Jennings
Red Sox: A-
Cardinals: A
These two teams are in remarkably different places, trying to do remarkably different things. That’s why the deal works so well for each side.The Red Sox are ready to win, and among their most glaring short-term needs — a problem that already hurt them in the playoffs this season — was a No. 2 starter behind Garrett Crochet. Gray fills that void, offering experience and strikeouts without issuing a ton of walks. He’s a rental, and not especially cheap even with the Cardinals covering roughly half of his salary, but he fits the moment, and positions the Red Sox as a team committed to winning. Unlike in the previous season, they had some young pitching depth that they could afford to trade.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, are where the Red Sox were five years ago. They’re resetting, and another year of Gray would have been a waste. They’re paying down his enormous salary but are getting two big arms in return, one of whom (Fitts) can immediately move into Gray’s rotation spot. Fitts isn’t an ace, but he’s a solid option with the raw stuff to potentially fall back into a multi-inning relief role. Clarke is farther away but offers greater upside, and again, has a solid floor as a hard-throwing reliever. Two big arms are a quality return for an overpaid rental.
Fitts could be an immediate addition to the Cardinals’ rotation. (Matt Dirksen / Getty Images)
Zack Meisel
Red Sox: B+
Cardinals: B+
There’s a solid top tier of free-agent starting pitchers in Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez, Tatsuya Imai and Michael King, but if you’re itching to address your rotation before diving into the painstaking process of pursuing one of those highly coveted arms, it’s not a bad idea to trade for a guy who’s been a solid — underrated? — starter for a long time. And since the Cardinals are chipping in $20 million to cover Gray’s deal, it shouldn’t prevent the Red Sox from dabbling in the free-agent waters in some capacity.
Ah, but is Gray still good? That might be an important question to answer. He just turned 36 and posted his highest ERA since 2018. A peek under the hood, though, suggests there’s nothing too alarming. Yeah, his hit rate increased to about one per inning, again his highest mark in seven years. But he still doesn’t walk anyone. He was one of 12 pitchers with 200 strikeouts. His FIP (3.39) alleviates some of the concern with his 4.28 ERA. You just need him to keep the ball in Fenway Park. His 25 home runs allowed were a career high.
His hard stuff gets whacked. Hitters logged a .585 slugging percentage against his fastball. And that’s why he only throws it about 22 percent of the time. His sweeper is awesome. Hitters had a .239 slugging percentage and a 42.3 percent whiff rate against it. Just throw that, man. His curveball’s still pretty good, too.
The Red Sox didn’t cough up anyone they can’t live without — at least, not yet. They have the back-end depth to withstand Fitts’ departure. And Clarke, an intriguing project with a great arm, has 38 innings in A-ball on his resume.
As for the Cardinals, what were they going to do with a 36-year-old starter anyway? They’ve been bracing everyone for a rebuild, and they just forked over $20 million to jump-start it. Fitts can slide right into their rotation and Bloom can start daydreaming about making his old organization regret bailing on Clarke. These teams were a great match, and it’s entirely possible both sides wind up pleased, just at drastically different times.