How Red Sox Acquiring Starting Pitcher Sonny Gray From Cardinals Impacts the Rays

The Boston Red Sox upgraded their starting pitching rotation, acquiring Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals. This is bad news for the Tampa Bay Rays.

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This offseason could be a long one for the Tampa Bay Rays. There are a few weaknesses on their roster they would love to upgrade, but they are expected to operate on a small budget once again.

That has created a sizable gap between them and their American League East rivals that is incredibly difficult to overcome. And that gap is already growing between them and the Boston Red Sox in the early going of the offseason.

Looking to add some more starting pitching depth behind Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox made their first major addition of the winter on Tuesday. They acquired starting pitcher Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sonny Gray to Red Sox is bad news for Rays

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This is bad news for the Rays for a number of reasons. For starters, a team that finished 12 games ahead of them in the standings in 2025 has already addressed one of the items on their to-do list.

Tampa Bay would have loved to add a player of Gray’s caliber to their rotation, which could use some more depth. But, they were never going to be in the running for him because of his price tag, even with the Cardinals paying down a portion of what the three-time All-Star is owed.

The Rays’ lineup is already viewed as a weakness. Only four players produced last season at an above-average level: third baseman Junior Caminero, second baseman Brandon Lowe, first baseman Jonathan Aranda and designated hitter Yandy Diaz.

Gray is only going to make an already underwhelming offense look that much worse. He has performed incredibly well since his tough stint with the New York Yankees, producing 21.3 bWAR from 2019-2025 across 184 starts and 1,017.1 innings with the Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins and Cardinals.

Sonny Gray has legitimate upside

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A 3.51 ERA, 3.31 FIP and 124 ERA+ have been recorded along with 1,136 strikeouts. Gray may not be viewed as an ace, but he is a middle-of-the-rotation arm, at worst, with legitimate No. 2 upside.

To make matters worse, Gray is someone who has found success against Tampa Bay in his career, especially at Tropicana Field. In six career appearances there, he has thrown 33.1 innings with a 2.97 ERA and 30 strikeouts.

A lineup that was already viewed as a weakness for the Rays coming into the offseason is already tasked with facing another tall task with Gray joining Boston.

There was already pressure on the Tampa Bay front office to find talent upgrades this winter. That pressure will only rise with each move their AL East rivals make, with the other divisional foes also expected to spend money aggressively.