So the Cardinals spent $20 million for 1 decent prospect

[renostl]

What was everybody expecting to get for a declining 36 year old 5 inning pitcher. Some need to alter their ****ing expectations.

uh, 19th in innings pitched in MLB. Also 39th in ERA. That what make him a huge upper number 2 innings eater?

I hope the man gets his shot at the playoffs.

Sonny has had as good of a 3-year stretch in IP over any point in his
in his 13-year career. He needs a 4th year for him to see it.

[Carp4Cy]

What was everybody expecting to get for a declining 36 year old 5 inning pitcher. Some need to alter their ****ing expectations.

uh, 19th in innings pitched in MLB. Also 39th in ERA. That what make him a huge upper number 2 innings eater?

And 11th in Strikeouts. That's ace caliber, for that one metric at least.

[WaltsSuccessor]

False. They saved the $20m that Boston is now going to pay Gray. AND they got two players. One for the 2026 roster, and one high-end lottery ticket for the future.

The $20m the Cardinals are committed to was already spent when Gray signed on the dotted line two years ago.

Finally a GM that understands sunk costs.

1 season of a $40 million Gray has turned into possibly 2-4 pitchers or 2
pitchers and a CFer.

I'll set back and watch for a bit.

To counter a lot of this "should of been better" and "damaged goods"
talks. I'm very sure that there'd be the same talk regardless of the return.

The #5 per MLB in the Cards system is Mathews. Would Cards fans be happy giving up Mathews, Pallante,
$21 million and a PTBNL or cash for one year of Sonny? I think the Cards would have to have at least 2 very solid
rotation pitchers to entertain doing anything like that. There's an argument that both of the exRed Sox
players rate higher than Mathews and Pallante.

Just to pick nits, if you're looking for a comparable to Fitts, then Graceffo probably makes more sense in terms of years of control, size, and former top prospect ranking/pedigree.

Pallante almost got non-tendered and he's currently about to go through arbitration for the first time (so 3 years of control vs. 6 for Pitts/Graceffo).

[Ronnie Dobbs]

The #5 per MLB in the Cards system is Mathews. Would Cards fans be happy giving up Mathews, Pallante,
$21 million and a PTBNL or cash for one year of Sonny? I think the Cards would have to have at least 2 very solid
rotation pitchers to entertain doing anything like that. There's an argument that both of the exRed Sox
players rate higher than Mathews and Pallante.

Good question. I would say it depends on how close the Cardinals would be to being a WS contender. If we needed a pretty (bleep) good pitcher to complete the rotation, then you gotta do what you gotta do, even if it hurts to give up a few pitchers.