ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Cardinals kicked off their holiday shopping season just right before Thanksgiving, adding two former Minnesota Twins starting pitchers in Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. On Cyber Monday, the Cardinals added another former Twins starter.
The Cardinals reportedly finalized a three-year deal worth $75 million with former Twins pitcher Sonny Gray. New York Post and MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman was the first to report the Cardinals and Gray were expected to finalize a deal Monday. The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported the terms of the deal.
Gray last season pitched for the Twins, where he was outstanding, posting a 2.79 ERA, American League-leading 2.83 FIP, striking out 183 batters and allowing only eight home runs in 184 innings. With Gray’s performance earned him votes to the runner-up in the 2023 AL Cy Young race.
With the Cardinals heading into the offseason desperate for starting pitching and their financial situation making it unlikely they would’ve signed someone at the top like Blake Snell, Gray to the Cardinals was a perfect fit.
With Gray heading into his age-34 season, he was never going to command a significant long term deal, with many sites projecting mostly a three-year deal for Gray.
With the signing of Gray, the Cardinals accomplished their goal of acquiring three starting pitchers this offseason. With Gray, the Cardinals projected starting rotation as of right now all have starters over the age of 33, with Steven Matz being the youngest among them. While not an ideal situation for the Cardinals to have a rotation up there in age, it is a still very veteran lading rotation, with all five pitchers having experience pitching in the postseason.
Whether this means this will end the Cardinals pursuit of Japanese superstar starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto is unclear. Last week during a press conference to announce the deals for Lynn and Gibson, when asked by a reporter if the Cardinals could go after a fourth starter this offseason, Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said he was 'leaning' more to only going after three starters 'based on how things are looking.'
However, Mozeliak did stress the offseason was a fluid situation and there could chances the teams adds more, possibly likely through the trade market, a market Mozeliak said they 'really haven't take a deep dive' into it yet.'
With the Cardinals signing Gray, the Cardinals will now likely attempt to shift their focus onto bullpen help now.