Cardinals 'Among Teams Linked' To Cy Young Runner Up, Three-Time All-Star

The St. Louis Cardinals made some moves to sure up the back-end of their rotation early on but they have yet to add a frontline starter.

Fortunately, all but one -- Aaron Nola -- remain unsigned, and the Cardinals reportedly are in the mix with at least one premier arm.

"The (Atlanta) Braves and Cards are among teams linked to Sonny Gray," the New York Post's Jon Heyman wrote Thursday.

Gray posted a 2.79 ERA with a 183-to-55 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .226 batting average against and 1.15 WHIP in 184 innings across 32 starts last season. He also led MLB with a 2.83 FIP and 0.4 home runs allowed per nine innings.

The 33-year-old's performance was strong enough to warrant a second-place finish in American League Cy Young voting.

The Cardinals have been linked to Gray for months and appear to be a logical landing spot for the three-time All-Star. St. Louis needs to make at least one splash, and Gray arguably is as good of a pitcher as any of the free agents on the market.

A rotation featuring Gray, Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn would be formidable. If they could add another starter in the Eduardo Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman, Shota Imanga tier, they could once again enter the year as National League Central favorites given the offensive firepower already in place.

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Published Nov 24, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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