The Yankees have received multiple offers for right-hander Sonny Gray and are currently in the process of evaluating them, per SNY’s Andy Martino. GM Brian Cashman has been unusually candid about his plan to move the obvious change-of-scenery candidate, and interest in buying low on the talented righty has reportedly been robust. Gray, projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $9.4MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility next year, pitched quite well away from Yankee Stadium and maintained his velocity and ability to miss bats. But he was frequently shelled in the Bronx and ultimately lost his rotation spot late in the season. The Reds are among the teams who’ve been prominently connected to Gray recently, though it stands to reason that upwards of half the league could have interest given his track record.
More rumblings on the market for pitching and bullpen help…
- The Phillies have been primarily connected to Bryce Harper and Manny Machado in free agency, but MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports that the Phils are also eyeing left-hander Patrick Corbin. Philadelphia has substantial payroll flexibility and a sense of urgency on the heels of a late 2018 collapse, but they’ll surely face quite a bit of competition in a pursuit of Corbin. The Yankees and Nationals, too, have shown early interest in Corbin.
- Morosi also notes within that column that the Brewers are exploring the market for rotation help and have shown some preliminary interest in righty Anibal Sanchez. The 34-year-old parlayed a minor league deal with the Braves into an absolutely brilliant rebound campaign that landed him 28th on MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agent rankings. Beyond a 2.83 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.99 HR/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate in 134 1/3 innings, Sanchez also allowed the least hard contact of any pitcher in the game, per Statcast.
- Speaking of generating weak contact, that skill will be at the forefront of agent Scott Boras’ pitch to teams when marketing lefty Dallas Keuchel, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription required). Boras, speaking to Rosenthal, tabbed Keuchel as the “soft-contact genius of his era” — and though the title is dripping with characteristic Boras hyperbole, it’s also underscored by truth. As Rosenthal points out, Keuchel leads the Majors in soft-contact rate (26.9 percent) since his big league debut. Boras notes that Keuchel’s age-26 through age-30 seasons stack up comparably with those of Andy Pettitte and Tom Glavine as well — another semi-outlandish but also factual claim that’ll no doubt be in his pitch to owners and top-ranking baseball ops executives.
- Rosenthal also reports that while the Angels are looking to add to both the bullpen and the rotation, it’s also possible they’ll listen to offers on right-hander Blake Parker. The 33-year-old Parker has been terrific find for GM Billy Eppler, pitching to a 2.90 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 22 saves in 133 2/3 innings since being claimed off waivers in December 2016. Parker is arbitration-eligible this winter and projected to earn $3.1MM and is controllable through the 2020 season.
“In one and a half seasons as a Yankee, Gray went 15-16 with 4.51 ERA, allowing 104 runs (98 earned) in 195 2/3 Innings”
Your HW assignment: Find Home/Away splits in those. What prospect do you think he gets? Sonny Gray is “buy low” candidate as any, think I’ll see in my life. (Despite est. 9.4M)
2018 Home:
4W 4L 6.98ERA 15g 11GS 1GF 0CG 0 0SHO 59,1IP 78H 47R 46ER 11HR 35BB 0IBB 45K
2018 AWAY:
7W 5L 3.17ERA 15G 12GS 1GF 0CG 0SHO 71.0IP 60h 26R 25ER 3HR 22BB 0IBB 78K
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=grayso01&year=2018&t=p
Said one and a half seasons. His entire tenure.
Never seen non-Coors Home/Away splits so crazy. This is why I think Cashman will get value for him. Even if it’s not as much value as he gave before.
Check out Aaron Judge. A lot of Yankees are like that.
2017 Home: 5.65 ERA, 28 2/3 Innings, 5 GS
2017 Away: 2.21 ERA, 36 2/3 Innings, 6 GS
2018 Home: 6.98 ERA, 59 1/3 Innings, with 35 walks, 45 strikeouts, 11 home runs served
2018 Away: 3.17 ERA, 71 Innings, and Soared to 78 strikeouts, only 22 walks, 3 Homers
For my savy stat dudes.. In 2018, Sonny had:
.399 wOBA at home and .274 wOBA on road.
Are Yankee hitters’ splits that extreme, 2018?
There have even other pitchers whe could not get results in Yankee Stadium. A J. Burnett comes to mind. It is a wield phenomenon.
Fangraphs has projected WAR at 1.4 next year, he has had a WAR of 3..3 in the past. He is only 29 and is healthy. The best is ahead for Gray.
Jarret Wright, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano. Shall I go on?
That is interesting; New Yankee Stadium is obviously a hitter’s park, but I had no idea it was so bad for certain pitchers. B-R only gives NYS a 105 park factor (5% better for batters). I know there’s nonsense about how some pitchers “can’t mentally adjust” to pitching in New York, or whatever, but something is happening. Maybe the Yankees’ pitching philosophy/coaching is detrimental to Gray specifically? Anyway, yes, I think the Yanks will find a partner in a trade.
Wright and Pavano were bad pitchers period. Johnson and Brown were old/past their prime – I mean, Johnson was 40 when he joined the Yanks, and Brown was 39. That’s not a great list.
Would be nice if they could get a good corner infield prospect in the deal.
Just heard on ESPN radio in Dayton Ohio that it’s being discussed around middle IF Alex Blandino and Single A SS Jeter Downs.
Blandino doesn’t seem like much.
Not sure Blandino would make team. He is RH? Makes no sense.
Who lives in Dayton Ohio?
xabial, you literally replied to this article within 5-6 minutes of the article being posted! How in the world could you have formed a rational thought from the time the article gets posted, you find it, read it, processed the facts and wrote your comment? All within 5-6 minutes of the actual article getting published!!!
Stay on topic, is that you 3rdStrikelooking?
Just kidding, Know you’re a disgruntled Mets’ fan. Cmon man. Stop….
Thor will net a king’s ransom. Let me get excited about what Gray might bring due to Home/Away.
Btw, yes did read the article. Quote from first post was from the article… You said 6 minutes. Most can do it in 3. Read the article yourself, and you’ll see.
I think what he meant is slow down, and maybe take a break. You’ve certainly been getting roasted the last couple of days.
A break won’t fix that.
This is the same guy who said he doesn’t even read my posts and down-votes each one Lol.
Some people are worth engaging, and others aren’t. Up to u who you support. MLBTR will seldom remove comments, still perplexed that one talking about mothers still there. It’s been getting bad with the name calling, off-topic attacks, nothing’s changed: I came here to talk baseball! (Thanks, Vinny and you right! won’t change who I am, for anyone, my response to u incoming)
If this was meant for me, than either you get thicker skin, or give it a rest. In no way was I “roasting you” by the way. Your mother is ________
Even tho you’re a yankee fan, I still feel for you. You take some very undeserved bashings for being an active poster.
Keep your head up X
Noo not u!! Dude u’ve never talked about my mother, (or anyone else’s for that matter) You’re one of my favorite NYY fans enjoy talk 2
Pay attention… keeps giving me hard time. Hint: ugly avatar picture.
I respect your passion, but, seriously, who really cares or notices mundane stuff like up-votes/down-votes and the like? I only really even notice your posts because you have an actual avatar (I’d love for this site, and all sites with comments, required avatars and real names but I know that’s not happening). It’s the internet and it’s unregulated. I really do like that ESPN and RAB and MLB and the like have just removed the comments section completely. While I like commenting here and engaging with thoughtful baseball fans, I wouldn’t miss it if the comments were disabled permanently. I’d still read the site. The comments sections here have certainly gotten quite worse over the years.
Spin it any way you want. People thinking Cashman has created a bidding war for 1 season of Gray is laughable. Why don’t you check out his splits vs teams with records overs .500? Hint: it’s almost as bad.
Still not a bad price for one year, Gray has some upside he had a WAR over 3 with the A’s. I would think he goes to an NL team with a bigger ballpark.
When your biggest selling point is – “He was really good 4 years ago” – you’re not likely getting much back in a deal.
I don’t think I would call Blake Parker a good find, I believe it is opportunity, good coaching and getting healthy again. His Cubs numbers were actually pretty good if you look at them. But I have to agree that they should listen on him.
In an article talking about Sonny Gray, it is a bit ironic Parker was also brought up.
Seen his splits?
2017:
36 IP, 0.74 ERA, .101/.142/.160/.301 againt
30 IP, 4.70 ERA, .248/.310/.451/.761 against
2018
36 IP, 2.50 ERA, .203/.259/.375/.634 against
30 IP, 4.15 ERA, .296/.358/.512/.870 against
Top lines for each season are at home numbers, bottom are on road
At home in 2017 he was dominant. He didn’t allow a run until Early August when Khris Davis hit a 2 run Homerun
Parker was “a nice find” two years ago. Last year he was horribly inconsistent. Nice find, really?
Buyer beware on Grey, I would leave the Yankees with that mess.
Yeah, but Gray has bounce back potential.
Martyvan90 all I’m saying dude is buyer beware. Could be a steal for the right club and fan base with a pitcher friendly park, and as a Giants fan I would throw up in my mouth a little if we went after another bad contract! Buyer beware!
Bad contract? He’s still under team control.
And that means what? That he won’t cost anything to take him off the Yankees? Buyer beware!
If you’re saying the Yankees are a mess, than what the hell is the state of the Giants?
How to create a straw man in one easy step. (it’s pretty easy to see the Yankees aren’t a mess without a poor argument for it, plus he was saying Gray is a mess, not the Yanks)
This guy has a history.
Slevin, have you come off your meds again? Read my statement probably or go troll somewhere else! Giants this, Giants that, just admit it dude, Gray was garbage! Similar to you! Move on kid.
Soooooo many people agree that your stupidity got old after your very first post. I’ll take Gray over 90% of the Giants supposed pitchers. Be a good boy and go feed a homeless person.
This is an old school, John Schuerholz pick up. Guy with big potential, in his walk year, available for little to nothing.
Sonny Gray to Cincy for Scooter Gennett. Probably not straight up but that would be perfect.
Add the Yankees’ two best prospects …
One year of Scooter is not worth remotely close to that.
Scooter is also a free agent after this year and he is projected to make more via arb than Gray. Plus pitchers are always way more valuable than position players. It would be something like Gray and an AA or AAA prospect for Scooter and an A prospect.
It’s always nice to see the dumbest of dumb yankee fans. Not all of them are as special as you, dobsonel. I would also agree Gennet for Gray would be a great trade, I was also thinking the Yankees should ask the cubs if they are comfortable with a Rizzo for Bird trade, Bird has a high ceiling you know.
So you believe Scooter is more valuable than Sonny Gray and day Johnny Loaisiga? You’re insane.
At this point..yea
Loaisiga is the 66th top ranked prospect thus far. When they finally do trade Scooter, they will probably still get a top 100 prospect with 2 throw in pieces, or do you believe Scooter is worth 3 top 100 prospects? If so, that would be a better package than the O’s got for Machado who is clearly better than Scooter.
Baseball I bet you think the yanks should deal Torres and Sheffield and Florial for Scooter huh? And New York should be thankful it’s only that
Gennet is a top 5 2B. Gray can’t even make a relatively weak Yankee rotation. Yeah, I think the Reds would pass a Gennett for Gray offer. The majority of Yankee, Reds, and baseball fans in general would agree your offer is a joke. There are a small percentage of ignorant Yankee fans who think otherwise. I’d rather not waste my time with them.
So how many top 100 prospects do you think a year of Gennett is worth? 2? 3? Please enlighten us with a resent comp trade where a one year middle infielder with a mid .800 OPS fetched anything more than I just mentioned.
If that’s all it takes to get Gennett the Braves should just swoop in and offer Teheran and some B level pitching prospect to net him
Teheran got some juicy Road splits in 2017 too
I never said B level prospect, I just said Scooter isn’t worth a major league pitcher AND two top 50 prospects as Seamaholic suggested. Scooter isn’t even worth two top 50 prospects as it is. I do think he’s worth a major league pitcher and a top 100 prospect with the Yanks getting a B level throw in.
Gennett >>>>>> Gray
You really need to stop drinking… Gennet for Gray…
Wherever he goes he’ll be a big comeback candidate. The list is long with players who cannot perform under the big city lights.
Please sign Annibal Sanchez, Milwaukee! Hahahahaha!!
Clowns like you said the same thing when they signed Chacin last year. How’d that turn out?
Wait to see him do it again this year. You don’t expect those retreads to repeat do you? Face it, 2018 was “the year” for Milwaukee where all the planets aligned…and they couldn’t even get to the WS. Major regression ahead.
I want the Braves to re-sign Anibal. He’s also said he’d like to return. That 2018 team was really close and a lot of fun to watch.
Corbin is going to the Yankees, and Keuchel to the Nationals. Book it, Dano.
Pay him like an Ace for 1 years worth of stats that weren’t even ace-like.
Corbin won’t be paid like an ace. 6/110. Not really ace like money anymore in this current market
Tell that to tiger fans when Zimmerman’s contract comes up.
Ugh. Can the Phillies steal Corbin from the Yankees? Thanks.
I wouldn’t even trade a bag of balls and pack of Big League Chew for Sonny Gray.
That’s why you’re not a GM
Yankees overpaid for Gray at the time, but it made sense if they were bringing in a talented arm. Gray finished 3rd in CYA in 2015. It just didn’t work out.
His ERA was 1.75 when he was with the Pirates.
It’s funny. When that trade was announced, I thought the Yankees stole Gray from Oakland. It didn’t quite work out that way, but the prospects that Oakland got in that deal don’t seem to be all that special either. If Cashman can get a decent prospect here, he’ll recoup most of what he gave up in the first place.
Unfortunately, I think Keuchel has peaked. His numbers are declining.
All of these competitive baseball organizations, plus the wanna be/gonna be Phillies. In on, or announcing they’re in on the top players in baseball. The Cardinals illustrious President of Baseball Operations, John Mozeliak, must be eating popcorn at a theatre. Just as he has during the past off seasons and during the past few years during the playoffs. Seems the same tune second 5th dance. He advertises he’s bringing in an All-Star caliber or MVP Quality player or players each season. Then he only signed wilted former quality players who are over the hill for huge money, long years contracts. Followed by his typical low hanging fruit. Man I sure do hope I’m wrong!! But Mozeliak has failed the Cardinal Fans with the same …. exact propaganda …. year after year after year. We’re fed up with him and his cover up mouthing.
Man I really hope the Brewers aren’t going to sign Anibal unless it’s to a minor league deal only pitchers they should consider for the rotation in free agency or trade (major league contracts) should be Grienke, Gray, Keuchal, Evoldi, Corbin, Paxton, or Harvey. Now there are a couple of guys that are intriguing on minor league deals like Anderson, Moore, Miley, Nolin,or even Rhea
Along with bringing back Hernandez and Thompson on minor league deals too
Ivan Nova for Sonny Gray.
Gray to Cincy is simply false. They are at least 2-3 years away from sniffing competitive baseball and he’ll be back on the market before then. No point in Cincy giving up anything of value for one year of Gray.
He’ll end up w a going-for-it-in-2019 team. Think OAK, HOU, MIL, STL.
I hope they don’t. There are better options than Gray out there.
The same applies in fantasy as it does in the real league… DO NOT PAY FOR A CAREER YEAR! Let the Yanks go after Corbin.
Gray had his moments but they weren’t handling the media.. He is not well spoken and is obviously very nervous in front of a microphone. This pressure affected his performance.
He does have good stuff and so is worth taking a chance on.
The Nats need to add a solid lefty to the rotation, but IDK about Corbin. He had one good season, in the last three. With so many teams looking for LHSP, I’m afraid the price will be steep for a guy without a track record of sustained success.
Braves should think about bringing back Sanchez for the middle of the rotation. I doubt that they will land Corbin or swing a deal for Greinke. I guess everyone is available when the price is right.
Nationals should be willing to move almost anyone on the roster. They need to move on from Harper and do a complete guy of the veteran core!!
Max Scherzer is a guy that would interest every contender. Imagine Scherzer with the Yankees. Yankees would offer up a ton of prospects and current roster players for Scherzer. Nats would be real smart to listen to the offers. They would do well in stocking the cupboard and matching some of there needs (2nd base, catcher, SP, RP, etc. G. Torres would fix the 2nd bass hole, etc)
Offer Stratsburg then too. Some team will pay with a wealth of young talent.
Then sign a couple of SP to help ease the loss P. Corbin, D. Kuechel, heck even trade for Z. Greinke. (Arizona would be willing to eat a huge chunk of the money owed).