Red Sox trade for Sonny Gray, fortify rotation with big first offseason deal

Two days before Thanksgiving, the Red Sox have made their first major move of the offseason.

Boston has acquired veteran starter Sonny Gray and cash ($20 million) from the Cardinals for pitchers Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke, a source confirmed to MassLive on Tuesday. Gray had to waive his no-trade clause to approve a deal to Boston and accepted one, facilitating the trade. It’s expected to be official soon.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has spoken frequently about upgrading Boston’s rotation in the wake of the club’s early postseason exit last month and has done so by adding Gray, a three-time All-Star who has one year left on his contract. It’s unclear if the Red Sox look at Gray as a true No. 2 option to slot alongside ace Garrett Crochet, but in any case, he’ll join, Crochet, Brayan Bello and a group of back-end options including Connelly Early, Payton Tolle, Patrick Sandoval and Kutter Crawford in the mix at this early stage of the winter.

The Red Sox re-worked Gray’s contract so that their commitment to him is worth about $21 million in 2026. His new deal will pay him $31 million in 2026 and includes a $10 mutual option in 2027 (a contract mechanism designed to be declined). With St. Louis pitching in $20 million, the Red Sox will be on the hook for $21 million — a little less than the value of MLB’s qualifying offer. Gray’s competitive balance tax (CBT) hit will be valued at a tick under $21 million in 2026.

Gray’s three-year, $75 million contract with St. Louis called for a $35 million salary in 2026 (and a $5 million buyout for 2027). He earned an extra $1 million by re-working the deal and waiving his no-trade clause.

Gray made 32 starts for the Cardinals in 2025, logging a 4.28 ERA in 180 ⅔ innings while striking out 201 batters. He posted a league-leading strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.29 and had a FIP (3.39) that suggested his final line should have been even better. The Vanderbilt product is a three-time All-Star who finished second in the American League Cy Young race in 2023, when he logged a 2.79 ERA in 32 starts for the Twins. With the Chaim Bloom-led Cardinals looking to shed payroll and re-build, Gray signaled late in the season that he would be open to waiving his no-trade clause to join a contender.

A former first-round pick, Gray’s career has included stops in Oakland, New York, Cincinnati, Minnesota, St. Louis and now Boston. He has a career 3.58 ERA in 339 games (330 starts) and has finished in the top seven of Cy Young voting three times (2015, 2019, 2023).

In Clarke and Fitts, the Red Sox parted with two promising young arms, capitalizing on the fact that the organization has accumulated — and developed — pitching in recent years. The Cardinals pitching in half of Gray’s money raised the price for Boston, which had to part with a potential major league contributor and a promising, athletic young pitching prospect.

Fitts, who has logged 65 ⅔ innings over 15 games (14 starts) as a major leaguer in the last two seasons, was expected to compete for a back-end rotation spot in spring training after making the team in 2025. Originally acquired in the Alex Verdugo trade two winters ago, the 25-year-old posted a 1.74 ERA in a four-start span after debuting late in the 2024 season and then had an up-and-down 2025 campaign in which he had a 5.00 ERA in 11 starts (10 games) and dealt with multiple injuries, including a case of arm neuritis that ended his season on August 26. The emergence of arms like Tolle, Early and others made Fitts somewhat expendable entering the winter.

Clarke, a hard-throwing 22-year-old lefty, rose to the top of organizational prospect charts early in 2025, when he struck out 56 batters in his first 35 innings of the season across two levels and cracked Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list (at No. 81). In late July, BA wrote that Clarke had “had more helium than any prospect to start 2025,” though blister issues limited him to just three innings (over two poor outings at High-A Greenville) after July 25. SoxProspects had Clarke, a 2024 fifth-round pick who signed for $400,000, as the eighth-best prospect in the system. MLB Pipeline had him fifth in its most recent rankings as a pitcher whose athleticism and pitch mix (which includes a triple-digit fastball, at times) provide a high ceiling.

More Red Sox coverage

• Red Sox trade: Who’s Brandon Clarke, top prospect Boston sent to Cardinals?

• Five quick thoughts on Red Sox acquiring Sonny Gray | Sean McAdam

• Red Sox rumors: Boston ‘showing interest’ in three-time All-Star catcher (report)

• Some Things I Think I Think: One bat not enough for Red Sox’ offseason shopping list

• Star Red Sox reliever commits to play for Team USA in World Baseball Classic

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