Is one of the Boston Red Sox’s most coveted pitchers for sale?
The Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline is just around the corner on Aug. 1, and the Oakland Athletics are likely to be sellers, as they sit in dead last in the American League West at 28-41. And the question now is whether the A’s are willing to part ways with Sonny Gray.
The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo reported Saturday that despite Gray’s struggles this season — he’s been inconsistent with a 3-6 record and 5.54 ERA — the A’s still are looking to get a haul in return for the 26-year-old starter, if they choose to deal him. Oakland very well could keep their ace to build around him, though, making someone like former Red Sox starter Rich Hill available instead.
But either way, pitching certainly won’t be easy to come by before August.
“Every team, it seems, is looking for pitching, whether it be a contender looking for a veteran for their staff, or whether it’s a reliever, and there are plenty of teams looking either for a prominent bat or a complementary one,” an AL general manager told Cafardo. “There should be a lot of activity coming around the corner. Teams will be trying to do things well ahead of the deadline.”
The Red Sox, Cafardo reported earlier this season, have checked in on Gray in the past, but obviously not much came from those inquiries.
Besides that, someone like Gray could cost the Red Sox a vital part of their core, like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts or possibly Jackie Bradley Jr. And whether Boston would ever give any of those guys up remains to be seen.
If the Red Sox don’t want to give up what it might take to land Gray, Cafardo mentions a few other pitchers who could be on the trading block, including the San Diego Padres’ Drew Pomeranz (6-7, 3.00 ERA), the Tampa Bay Rays’ Matt Moore (3-4, 4.90 ERA) and possibly the Atlanta Braves’ Julio Teheran (3-7, 2.66 ERA). But regardless, with all the competition for pitching this season, this likely will be a very interesting trade deadline.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
