TODAY: Gray looks like the Rangers’ “primary pitching target at [the] moment,” Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News writes, noting that Texas currently has an offer out to the righty. The Angels and Mets both appear to still be in the mix.
NOVEMBER 25: Several teams are showing “legitimate interest” in free agent right-hander Jon Gray, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter link), with the Rangers included in that list. Gray’s decision may come relatively soon, as MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets that there is some industry expectation that Gray will sign within the next week, or prior to the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on December 1.
Texas has mostly been linked to major position player free agents this offseason, but with the organization reportedly ready for a huge payroll increase, rotation help is naturally also on the radar. Justin Verlander (before he re-signed with the Astros) and Clayton Kershaw have already been linked to the Rangers, though Gray would likely require a longer-term contract. Feinsand notes that geography could also be a factor for Gray, as playing for the Rangers would put him closer to his home in Oklahoma.
Gray would immediately become the veteran ace of a young Texas staff, and quite possibly wouldn’t be the only new arm in the mix. Since the Rockies didn’t issue Gray a qualifying offer, he can be signed without any draft pick compensation, making him a particularly intriguing option for a Texas club that is looking at several big-name additions. Signing Gray would allow the Rangers to instead surrender their draft capital on one of the 10 QO-rejecting free agents still on the market, though obviously Gray holds that same appeal for any number of other teams.
Gray celebrated his 30th birthday earlier this month, and after seven MLB seasons with Colorado, could now be set to pitch elsewhere for the first time in his professional career. It remains to be seen if a return to the Rockies is still a possibility, as while the club made a push to sign Gray to a contract extension before the offseason began, Rockies GM Bill Schmidt said on November 10 that Gray’s camp hadn’t been in contact with the front office since the end of the season.
If Gray did sign within a week’s time, he would become the latest player to depart what has become a fast-moving starting pitching market. Verlander, Eduardo Rodriguez, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Anthony DeSclafani, and Andrew Heaney are some of the prominent free agent hurlers who have already signed new contracts, and Alex Wood is reportedly close to a new deal to return to the Giants. This should only help Gray’s leverage in finding a healthy multi-year pact beyond the Rockies’ reported extension offer of three years and between $35-40MM. The Tigers are the only other known suitor for Gray to date.
I wonder how many teams are showing “illegitimate interest” in Gray.
Def Mets.
Cubs
RunDMC I’m a Mets fan and that even made me laugh to myself
Only the teams of unknown parentage. Don’t make me name them.
Please do name them
Rangers seem to be going all in on free agency. Must be getting ready too compete again in a couple years. Maybe Trevor Story as well?
Kershaw and gray i could live with that
Happy Thanksgiving.
you too
And a healthy one, that’s the important part!
Amen, you all are kind alike one of the closest friend groups I’ve got and I know we all often hate each other but y’all pretty awesome! Thank you all!
You too. I’m thankful for the awesome game of baseball and a forum to talk about it 😉
agreed
It’s hard to imagine any team except the Pirates or O’s NOT having a legit interest in Gray. Decent #3, borderline #2, good stuff, good command. Will have to see how the it all plays outside of Coors, though I think the suspicioni s that it plays well.
Worth 4 years at 15M per, IMHO.
Definitely plenty of interest in a first round pick with good hard stuff. Any team that has rotation needs and designs on competing should be in on Gray
No suspicion needed—his home/road splits are available to be reviewed. Jon Gray is that very rare Rockies SP who is better at home than on the road. It was markedly true in 2021 but also true across the ~150 starts in his career. Every meaningful metric is worse on the road.
It appears his stuff *doesn’t* play as well outside Denver. It’s been suggested his low spin rate isn’t bothered by the high altitude, but allows him to get clobbered at sea level.
If I’m any other team, I’m proceeding with extreme caution.
Sounds like a lot of pseudoscience based on a refusal to acknowledge the randomness that often occurs in statistics. Gray is not a worse pitcher away from Colorado.
Unfortunately all of his career statistics say he is, and it’s not a small sample size… I would definitely agree w you if it was only a year or two… but I also think that getting out of an extreme hitters park will help his overall numbers because that has to take a mental toll
@Cosmo2 It isn’t as if the statistics aren’t freely available for review or anything. But you can continue to insist the earth is flat. That’s fine.
You can addd the Marlins and Oakland to that list. Oakland is in in teardown mode.And the Marlins are not going anywhere near him.
Oakland actually is in a puzzle,waiting on a salary floor decision from the CBA. Don’t know that A’s will actually do a full rebuild. They never do.
Not only is the COL FO avoiding the FA market altogether, they continue to cling to the delusion that Gray and Story will be effortlessly signed to mid-term modest contracts to remain in Denver.
He seems to profile similar to Lance Lynn.
Fastball/Slider 85-90 % of the time.
Velocity around the same on the fastball.
What makes Lance Lynn’s fastball more unhittable than Grays? Location or movement?
Pitch selection/better scouting opposing hitters?
Is it possibly Jon Gray could see his production go way up with a slight change?
Lynn benefits largely from pitching in the worst division in baseball
Try again. Pitched only 1 year in ALC and did quite well in ALW couple years before that.
Phillies should be in on him. No QO and a need for better arms in the rotation. Signing him would keep Falter in the pen and Crouse in AAA while Eflin recovers from his knee injury.
I don’t think they need pitching as much as infield depth and a few more guys to hit, but getting Gray would add some great depth. I think they’ll be priced out, but it’s certainly worth taking a look. Wheeler. Nola, Gray, Suarez, Gibson and Eflin is one hell of a rotation.
You’re right they have some holes, but pitching depth always exacerbates their lack of offense. Avoiding bullpen games should be a major goal next season.
@Von as a Mets fan I think the Phillies are the perfect spot for conforto who was always so underappreciated in NY (and numbers validate that) and I think would do great in Philly… he loves hitting in that park too
If he could play LF, I’d be very happy with Conforto. The Phillies are desperate for outfielders outside of Harper.
I agree as well, but indications from brass is that they would prefer a right-handed bat behind Harper.
Could you go conforto-Harper-realmuto or do they like JT higher in the order because of his OBP? Conforto always strong OBP so I always thought he would fit best in the two hole in front of a team’s best hitter
If the Mets sign Gray and Stroman their rotation will be vastly improved
You go to the Mets! You go to the Mets! EVERYBODY goes to the Mets!
If they sign Trout, Harper and Betts their offense would be improved.
Pretty sure the Mets can afford a few big signings with their current roster.
Is it 2033 already?
He could be a CY contender if he signs with the Giants.
Considering how many teams need pitching help it seems odd to me that the Rangers and the Tigers are “the only known suitors to date.” There must be other teams pursuing him that haven’t leaked their plans? ‘Enquiring minds want to know’
If anyone needs pitching it’s the Padres. Preller has been pretty quiet so far. According to MLBRumors he’s not showing any interest in anyone. Somebody wake him up, and tell him to get over it. It’s a brand new season. Everyone starts the same, at least in theory. We need pitching, AJ. Go get us some.
You’re right, and it’s interesting that only a year ago, people were wondering what the Padres would do with all of their pitchers in 2022 when Clevinger came back. Best laid plans…
I mean they do on paper have a rotation next year of Musgrove/Darvish/Snell/Clevinger, which is a really high ceiling top 4, so it’s not like they have zero pitching.
Their issue is the serious lack of pitching depth behind that, they had no one in the organization to cover innings by the end of last year. Gray would be an awesome mid-rotation pickup, but I think they’re going to go for numerous back of the rotation types instead since the problem last year wasn’t so much quality as it was quantity.
Happy Thanksgiving
same
I would sign gray to no more than a 1 year deal as he has a ton to prove when/if he leaves Denver
The angels should sign Padres don’t need pitching they have 4 Quality pitching
angels seem to be aiming higher. but if they fail to nab one they will be sure to be in on gray or trading for sonny gray who has the best numbers at the angels ball park.
Isn’t sonny gray a free agent ?
jon is a free agent and sonny has a contract for ’22 with an option for ’23.
The Dodgers have 4 quality starters. Not the Padres. I think you misspoke.
I count two. If you are including Heaney and Gonsolin, I suggest recalibrating your expectations. Heaney has yet to prove he can pitch effectively and Gonsolin needs to show he can throw enough innings in a season to be called a starter.
SD has so much $$$ tied up in their current rotation (despite results) it’s a tough sell to convince ownership to continue to throw money at the problem. Padres need to focus on getting their SPs straightened out rather than overpay (again) for more of the same.
Rangers aren’t going to make a move like this. It’s all hype to try and talk up the team for fan interest but it’s all moot. I could see them MAYBE getting Kershaw only because he wants to be closer to home. But really it makes no sense for them to make a big trade for Gray as they are still at least 2-3 years away from competing and really haven’t shown much improvement in performance from the past couple seasons
Gray is a free agent, no trade needed. He is absolutely someone the Rangers would be interested in to add some stability to the young rotation and no QO attached to him. If they sign him to a four year contract, we stands a good chance to help the team when they get back to contending.
It helps when you read the article.
Hard to know if OP is discussing a trade with Reds for Sonny Gray, or signing Jon Gray as FA. Wouldn’t be the first time such a parallel convo happened on a site like this.
Oops. You were wrong
The rangers are interested in my mom
There once was a GM named Al,
Who used all of his luck getting a gal,
…..
Now we all get to move to Nantucket….
Your franchise is a dumpster fire when your primary selling point to potential FAs is geography.
Hello Mr. Gray, yes, our owners are reclusive billionaires who are deathly afraid of cameras and microphones. Yes, our roster couldn’t compete in AAA – BUT- we have some really cool highways to and from Oklahoma.
The NY Jets of MLB.
Gray would be a fantastic add for Texas.
It’s almost as if we’re getting three months worth of news and headlines in one day, as if something is about to happen in a couple days.
Lockout is coming. Count on it. Sad but true.
I’d like to see the Jays sign Gray as well. Definitely be a deep pitching staff with talent.
Mets are going to have to pivot to Gray and Stroman. Gausman going to Toronto and I think Max stays in LA.
Jon Gray to Texas
Rangers got him! Nice.
Wait what?
Wow sure glad I am not a Rockies fan. How messed up is this. Getting nothing in return. Wowza
Keep on laughing , why y’all think the mets have to sign all of the pitchers and assuming everyone will want to live in NY?! Scherzer is coming before end of day tomorrow . Just watch !!
Passan tweeted the Rangers signed him.
Oh that great al west going to be up for grabs all these pitcher going there