The Red Sox have made their first big move of the offseason.
According to a source, the Red Sox have acquired veteran right-hander Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals.
The deal was first reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan the Cardinals will receive right-hander Richard Fitts and minor league left-hander Brandon Clarke in exchange. The Red Sox will also receive cash considerations from the Cardinals to help cover Gray’s salary.
A three-time All-Star, Gray has pitched 13 seasons in the majors and is coming off a season in which he posted a 4.28 ERA with 201 strikeouts over 180.2 innings. The 36-year-old has been among the most durable starting pitchers in baseball throughout his career and has posted at least 165 innings in three straight seasons.
Gray projects to slot into the top of the Red Sox rotation behind ace Garrett Crochet.
Gray originally had one year and $35 million plus a mutual option for 2027 remaining on the three-year, $75 million deal he signed with the Cardinals ahead of the 2024 season. But according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Gray’s contract is being reworked to be one-year, $31 million with a $10 million buyout for the unlikely to be exercised mutual option, guaranteeing him $41 million for the upcoming year.
Passan reports that the Cardinals will send the Red Sox $20 million to offset Gray’s salary, leaving Boston on the hook for only about half of the full amount he’s owed.
To land Gray, the Red Sox gave up two promising young arms who did not have a clear path to contribute in 2026.
Fitts was originally acquired in the Alex Verdugo trade and emerged as one of the first products of chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s new pitching pipeline. The right-hander debuted in late 2024 and posted a 1.74 ERA over his first four MLB starts, and this past spring he earned a spot in the club’s Opening Day rotation.
Fitts did not enjoy the same success in his first full big league season. The 25-year-old right-hander was limited to just 11 games (10 starts) due to multiple injuries, including a right pectoral strain and right arm neuritis, and also bounced back and forth between Triple-A and the majors throughout the season.
Fitts finished with a 5.00 ERA in 45 innings, and this spring he would have faced fierce competition for a rotation spot from a crowded group that includes Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Hunter Dobbins, Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle and others.
Clarke was one of Boston’s breakout prospects this past season and at one point surged into Baseball America’s Top 100 list before struggling later in the year following his promotion to High-A Greenville. The 22-year-old left-hander boasts a high-90s fastball and averaged 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings, though he posted a 5.08 ERA in 28.1 innings at High-A and rarely pitched more than three innings at a time.
Clarke did not appear on Baseball America’s recently released Top 10 Red Sox prospects list, but he still has a high-impact ceiling and should immediately become one of St. Louis’s top pitching prospects as the club embarks on its full-scale rebuild.
