*Photo from the East Village Times*
It's getting Sonny in St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals and RHP Sonny Gray have agreed to a 3 year, $75 million contract, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The Cardinals have confirmed the move.
The contract pays Gray $25 million a year through the 2026 season and also contains a team option for the 2027 campaign. The option is worth $30 million and has a $5 million buyout, guaranteeing Gray $80 million with the ability to push it to $100 million maximum if the option is exercised. He also gets a no trade clause.
At his press conference, Gray said that "Going into this thing. I wanted to be a Cardinal. That started probably a little over a year ago. It’s a place that every time I've come here as a visitor, I've looked at the stadium and I've said, ‘Wow, this place is incredible!’"
"I looked around the seats and I've seen the fans, and the fans continue to show up and they support this team. And when you talk around the league and talk to different guys who have been all over the place, everybody raves about St. Louis and the Cardinals."
Last season was a tremendous one for Gray, who finished as the runner up for the AL Cy Young. He posted a 2.79 ERA, 2.83 FIP, and 1.147 WHIP, allowing just 8 home runs over 184 innings and 32 starts as the Twins won the AL Central. He allowed 5 runs over 9 innings in two playoff starts.
Gray has pitched for the Twins, Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, and Cincinnati Reds in 11 big league seasons. He has a 3.47 ERA, 1.204 WHIP, and 3.57 FIP to his name, making 270 starts, 9 relief appearances, and throwing 1,571 innings. Gray has a 3.26 ERA and 1.385 WHIP over 30 1/3 innings and 6 starts in the postseason.
St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said of signing Gray that "We certainly feel like we’ve accomplished something for our rotation. Today’s a great day for us, and we really feel good about what’s happened over the last 10 days. But there’s still two months left in the offseason, and what we really want to do is not close any doors. But we certainly feel a lot better about our club today than we did two months ago."
Last season, Gray nearly doubled the usage of his sweeper from 10.3 percent in 2022 to 20.4 percent in 2023, with opponents batting just .097 against the pitch with a .118 slugging percentage and 53.2 percent strikeout rate. He had a +19 run value with his sweeper, leading the majors.
Gray joins Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn as the 3 starting pitchers the Cardinals have brought in this offseason. The team will forfeit their second highest draft pick in 2024 and $500,000 from the international bonus pool for signing Gray, as he was attached to the qualifying offer from the Twins.
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