As they prepare to miss the playoffs once again, the Oakland A’s are once more considering trading away Sonny Gray. The interested parties? The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros.
Scouting Gray
All five teams sent scouts to watch Gray pitch against the Cleveland Indians on Friday. The A’s won 5-0, and Gray looked good through 6 inning of work, giving up only 2 hits and striking out 5, bringing his ERA down to 3.72 this season.
Sonny Gray this season
Into his fifth season in the majors, the 2015 All-Star is showing that last year was just something in the way of long term success. Through 84.2 innings and 14 starts, Gray has a 3.72 ERA, 1.157 WHIP and a 3.04 K/BB ratio, the second best of his career. He’s not quite in his All-Star form yet, but considering he’s under comfortable team control through the next two seasons, it’s easy to see why contending teams are interested in him.
Where does he end up?
The Astros are gliding with their incredible 61-29 record, but it’s hard to see the A’s dealing Gray in their own division. The Astros might be doing this more to block him from ending up somewhere else. In any case, in terms of desperation, the Yankees are probably the hungriest to add Gray to their rotation as they’ve fallen to third in the AL East, now 4.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox and only 3 games above .500. The days of summer haven’t been kind to a team that looked ready to dominate their league, or at least the division, after a few rough years.
Career numbers
Gray has played his entire career with the A’s, making his debut in 2012. Finally making some big money ($3.5 million this season), Gray has a 43-35 record through 112 games, 110 of them starts. His career ERA is 3.46. He has a career 1.198 WHIP and 2.68 K/BB ratio.