Reds rumors: Cincinnati open to trading Sonny Gray

The latest Reds rumors suggest Sonny Gray may be traded.

The strength of the Cincinnati Reds the past two seasons has been the team’s starting pitching. However, in one offseason it appears the Reds may lose 60% of their starting staff. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Sonny Gray may be on the trading block. These latest Reds rumors are sure to not sit well with the fanbase.

The Cincinnati Reds are sure to lose Trevor Bauer in free agency, and the team has made no effort to retain right-hander Anthony DeSclafani. If Cincinnati does indeed trade Gray, the rotation would be severely decimated.

The only starters remaining would be Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, and Wade Miley. Both Castillo and Mahle are in their first-year of arbitration eligibility and Miley is only under contract for one more season and struggled to stay healthy last season.

Should these Reds rumors be true and Cincinnati does in fact move on from Sony Gray, filling out the remainder of the starting rotation would be players like Michael Lorenzen, Tejay Antone, Sonny Santillan, and Nick Lodolo.

Cincinnati does have a lot of depth in their minor leagues, but Hunter Greene is not yet ready to take the mound in the majors, Vladimir Gutierrez has struggled and is currently suspended for PED use, and the Reds recently traded away Packy Naughton.

Dealing Gray seems like a crazy move, right? Well, according to Rosenthal, with the scarcity of quality starting pitching on the open market and Gray’s extremely affordable contract, the Reds are doing their due diligence by gauging other team’s interest in the right-hander.

Sonny Gray put up good numbers last season while healthy. The 31-year-old went 5-2 with a 3.70 ERA and 72 strikeouts over 56 innings of work. Gray started a total of 11 games last season and struck out six or more batters on seven occasions.

Sonny Gray’s contract makes him extremely appealing to other teams. the Nashville native is under contract through the 2022 season with a $12M team option for 2023. That’s great value for the potential ace of a pitching staff.

These latest Reds rumors could clue us into the front office’s plans for this winter. Could Nick Krall use Gray as a trade chip to land a highly-talented shortstop? The Cincinnati Reds have a huge void up the middle of their infield and trading Gray may help the team fill that hole.