The St. Louis Cardinals are heading into a rebuild in 2025 and, after a lackluster offseason, could be facing a last-place finish in the NL Central. One of the team’s weak spots is starting pitching, where they have several veterans who might be traded. Sonny Gray, however, is not helping his trade value with a rough spring training performance. The Athletic’s Katie Woo shared the details of another poor outing on Sunday.
Woo posted on social media: “That is about as rough as it gets for a spring outing for Sonny Gray. He was pulled with one out in the fourth, his third consecutive [roll-over] inning. He threw 72 pitches and gave up 7 earned runs. Gray has allowed six home runs in 9 1/3 innings this spring. It’s been tough.”
Gray has made three starts for the Cardinals during spring training, pitching just 9.2 innings. In that time, he’s surrendered 15 runs on 16 hits. Manager Oliver Marmol attempted to use the roll-over inning rule—where a pitcher exits in the middle of an inning but returns at the start of the next one—but it hasn’t yielded positive results for Gray.
The Cardinals must increase Sonny Gray’s trade value
This season in Saint Louis isn’t about winning. They hired Chaim Bloom, a former Red Sox and Rays executive, to oversee their minor-league operations this year before taking over the entire franchise the next year. They let Paul Goldschmidt walk and attempted to trade Nolan Arenado. This is finally a rebuild, and they’re not fooling anyone. So getting strong starts from pitchers they could deal will be critical.
Every contender requires a starting pitcher by the MLB trade deadline. Regardless of his spring performance, a team may pay up for Gray before then. However, in order to advance, he must perform admirably. Miles Mikolas, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz all have expiring contracts, whereas Gray does not. They will be better able to trade assets at the deadline.
Despite low expectations in St. Louis, there are certain guys to keep an eye on in the future. Masyn Winn, a shortstop, is the most well-known player after a strong season last year. Michael Siani, Brandon Donavan, and Nolan Gorman are the other names on the roster that the team hopes will help them return to the playoffs. For the time being, the Cardinals face a difficult situation.