Brian Cashman clearly miscalculated on what to do with Sonny Gray
Sonny Gray was apparently something of a commodity heading into the trade deadline, and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman missed an opportunity.
Since being acquired by the New York Yankees at the 2017 trade deadline, Sonny Gray has a 4.85 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP over a full season worth of starts (32). But he has struggled this year, with a 5.56 ERA and 1.52 WHIP over 21 starts, and things reached a low-point on Wednesday when he allowed seven runs on eight hits to the Baltimore Orioles over 2.2 innings.
Gray has been removed from the starting rotation, in favor of recent trade acquisition Lance Lynn. With a 7.71 ERA in 11 home starts this year, compared to a 3.62 ERA in 10 road starts, it’s possible Gray just isn’t equipped to deal with the pressure of pitching in New York.
A little over a week before the trade deadline, a surprising report surfaced suggesting Gray was getting some interest. His time with the Oakland A’s and a thin trade market for starting pitching, interest in Gray could be explained with some logic.
There’s said to be a bit of interest in Sonny Gray in trade, as there are folks who believe he’d do better in another market. But Yanks’ main interest is in adding to rotation, not subtracting from it.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 22, 2018
Despite Gray’s demotion to the bullpen this week, Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman remained committed to not having sold-low on Gray during a Thursday appearance on “The Michael Kay Show.”
"I had definitely teams that were in contention and teams that were not in contention because of his control year next year that asked about Sonny Gray because they know what his capabilities are and that his stuff is still the same,”“(Teams) approached it in a buy-low situation where it did not make any sense, especially when you saw what he was doing for us in July in those more recent four starts as well as June,"
Gray has maintained a good strikeout rate this year (8.6 K/9), and his FIP (4.43) points to a bit of bad fortune. He does have one more year of team control left before hitting free agency, which is important to note but in the same breath should not be overrated.
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Gray could still be placed on waivers, clear waivers and be moved some time this month. But Cashman was not able to separate what Gray is doing from the cost of three prospects in the trade to get him a year ago, and the proverbial sell-low point has now gotten a little lower.