Craig Breslow Addresses Red Sox Fans' Biggest Sonny Gray Trade Fears
May 20, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray (54) pitches against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Boston Red Sox fans can find excuses to be upset about just about any move the team makes, and the Sonny Gray trade is a layup for those folks.
Gray is headed into his age-36 season, and judging by his 4.28 ERA last season, he looks like a mid-rotation starter with below-average velocity. But he's also one of just five pitchers to strike out 200 or more batters in both of the last two seasons, and he led the National League in strikeout-to-walk ratio this year, just ahead of Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes.
However, Gray's $21 million commitment from the Red Sox might also remind some fans of the Walker Buehler signing from last year, considering it was for the exact same dollar amount. Both pitchers were over 30, and hadn't necessarily put up their best numbers the year before.
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Why Gray, Buehler are nothing alike
Those who watched Gray closely this year, however, even if only through a statistical lens, know he and Buehler have been nothing alike for the last handful of seasons.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow addressed that exact point earlier this week when he spoke to the media about trading for Gray, admitting the uncertainties surrounding Buehler at this time a year ago.
“Obviously we had Walker here last year. I don't think anyone would say that it worked out as well as we had hoped,” said Breslow, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. “But Sonny, he's got a pretty significant track record of not only performance and consistency, but of shouldering a pretty significant workload.
"I think two out of the last three years he's thrown 180-plus innings with what I would call impeccable command. I think they're fairly different, and we obviously made decisions in each of those cases to go forward with the players. And hopefully the Sonny acquisition works out.”
Elevated ERAs during the regular season obviously aren't ideal, but innings pitched have become more important year after year. Gray had a few blowup starts this year, but he also delivered 14 quality starts, which only 27 major league pitchers topped.
If nothing else, the Red Sox should be getting a workhorse in the Gray deal, and a strike-thrower at that (which everyone who saw Buehler this year knew he was not). That should help Boston win more games than they lose when he takes the mound.
Panarin and Zibanejad Lead Rangers’ Surge Against Short-Handed Bruins
The New York Rangers extended their streak on Friday afternoon, defeating the Boston Bruins 6-2 at TD Garden to collect their third consecutive win. The Rangers’ offense was electric, led by a spectacular four-point (1G, 3A) effort from Artemi Panarin and a two-goal performance from Mika Zibanejad, whose two power-play goals came just 45 seconds apart in the middle frame. Despite the decisive score, the Bruins demonstrated resilience while playing without key forwards David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. Forward Casey Mittelstadt scored in his return after missing nine games due to injury, and Morgan Geekie continued his hot streak by netting his 18th goal of the season, giving him an impressive six points in his last five games.
New York Rangers Lineup:
Panarin – Trocheck – Brodzinski
Cuylle – Zibanejad – Lafreniere
Sheary – Laba – Berard
Edstrom – Carrick – Raddysh
Gavrikov – Fox
Soucy – Schneider
Vaakanainen – Robertson
Shesterkin
Garand
Boston Bruins Lineup:
Steeves – Lindholm – Geekie
Mittelstadt – Khusnutdinov – Merkulov
Jeannot – Minten – Kastelic
Tufte – Kuraly – Eyssimont
Zadorov – Aspirot
Lindholm – Jokiharju
Lohrei – Peeke
Korpisalo
Swayman
Artemi Panarin found the back of the net early for New York at 16:32 of the opening frame for his eighth goal of the season after Will Cuylle had forced a turnover on the offensive blue line, creating a 2-on-1, and fed Panarin for a snap shot from the right circle, beating Joonas Korpisalo to put the Rangers in the lead 1-0. With an absolute beauty of a one-timer from the top of the left circle, Carson Soucy gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead at 7:58, beating Korpisalo high glove after a cross-ice pass from Vincent Trocheck ricochetted off the half wall. It was Soucy’s second goal of the season.
While Hampus Lindholm was in the box for a double minor for high-sticking, in a span of just 45 seconds, Mika Zibanejad collected a pair of goals late in the second period. His first of the two came at 5:38 when he took a pass from Panarin, firing a one-timer from the top of the left circle to make it 3-0. Zibanejad’s second goal came at 4:53 when he took, yet again, another pass from Panarin, scoring on a slap pass that went right past Korpisalo to make it 4-0 from the left circle.
Casey Mittelstadt cut the deficit to 4-1, preventing a shutout for Igor Shesterkin early in the third frame with 15:53 on the clock when he jammed in a loose puck during a scramble in front of the net past Shesterkin. This was Mittelstadt’s fifth goal of the season. For his 18th of the season, and his sixth in the past five games, Morgan Geekie redirected a point shot from Elias Lindholm from the point past Shesterkin to make it 4-2 not long after the first Boston goal at 14:11. With 3:24 on the clock, Alexis Lafreniere scored an empty-netter to give the Rangers a 5-2 lead, and then with 2:58 left to play, Vladislav Gavrikov put home his fourth goal of the season for the 6-2 final when he tipped in a shot from Trocheck.
Game Notes:
– Igor Shesterkin made a total of 19 saves for New York, and Joonas Korpisalo made a total of 30 saves for Boston.
– Adam Fox collected three assists. …For Artemi Panarin, this was his 19th career four-point game with the Rangers. He ties Jean Ratelle for the second most in team history behind Rod Gilbert (25).
– According to Sturm, both David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha are day-to-day and isn’t sure if they will play on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings.
– Before this game, Matej Blumel was placed on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury sustained on Wednesday in a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders.
– The Rangers are 13-11-2, and the Bruins are 14-12-0.
