NY Mets named a longshot, Braves a favorite to trade for overpriced Cardinals pitcher

New York Mets trade rumors involving Tarik Skubal have headlined the good part of a week. Easily the best starting pitcher who could change teams this offseason, the Detroit Tigers ace is going to be one of the most discussed names all offseason. There isn’t a free agent quite at his level with Kyle Tucker coming off of a somewhat down season being the priciest player we should hear a ton about in the coming weeks.

There is only one Skubal and with Detroit’s intention to contend next year, it’s important to have some backup plans in mind. The Milwaukee Brewers are expected to shop their best starting pitcher rather than pay him $8 million; seriously. An even more easily attainable player who could be on the move is probably going to cost significantly less.

MLB Trade Rumors profiled potential trade destinations for St. Louis Cardinals starter Sonny Gray. They accurately named the Mets as longshots while naming the Atlanta Braves as one of the favorites.

Yep, there’s no chance the Mets trade for Sonny Gray

Gray’s backloaded contract has a $35 million hit in 2026 with potentially $30 million for 2027. There’s a $5 million buyout on a team option. Turning 36 in November, Gray isn’t a bad starting pitcher to have. He was the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2023 as a member of the Minnesota Twins. His two years in St. Louis have been less impressive, but not totally disastrous.

Gray is 27-17 with a 4.07 ERA for the Cardinals. His 2 BB/9 and 10.5 K/9 rates are actually magnificent when considering how undesirable of a name he first appears to be. With Gray, it’s always important to note how bad things went in his year and a half with the New York Yankees. He pitched to a 4.90 ERA in his one full season there in 2018. He ended up in the bullpen for a chunk of the year, too.

This gave Gray the reputation of being a “small market” pitcher which might not be fair yet it’s tough to argue against. His best years came with the Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, and Twins. St. Louis is a rung below New York where he improved but wasn’t close to ace-level.

The Braves have taken calculated risks with starting pitchers before. Most notably was how well the trade with the Boston Red Sox for Chris Sale worked out. It’s almost easy to forget how Sale was practically unusable due to injury and ineffective in his final years in Boston. He won a Cy Young his first year in Atlanta. He was an All-Star in year two with no chance at repeating only because he missed about a dozen starts.

The Cardinals will need to eat a part of Gray’s contract to move on from him. Something more reasonable might make him easier to accept. However, there are way too many red flags. Among them, Gray surrendered a career-worst 25 home runs this past year. His hard-hit percentage creeped up to 40.7%, his highest since his time with the Yankees.