Red Sox boost rotation with veteran who has historically been tough on the Blue Jays

Sonny Gray is coming back to the American League East. Eight years after last pitching for the New York Yankees, Gray waived his no-trade clause, allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to trade him to the Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals received LHP Brandon Clarke, RHP Richard Fitts, and a PTBNL or cash.

In Gray, the Red Sox get a veteran arm who has proven time and time again that he can be a very capable middle of the rotation arm - something that should somewhat worry the Toronto Blue Jays.

Red Sox boost rotation with veteran who has historically been tough on the Blue Jays

Gray should fit in nicely into the Red Sox rotation behind Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello while also filling a valuable leadership role to promising rookie Connelly Early. It's a nice addition for the Red Sox, especially if Gray can recapture the form he had between 2019 and 2024. During those six seasons Gray was worth a combined 19.9 bWAR pitching in 152 games and striking out 935 batters in 836.2 innings pitched.

What should be of particular concern for the Blue Jays is that Gray has largely been effective against Toronto throughout his career outside his lone, full season with the Yankees in 2018. During that season he pitched in five games, including four starts for the Bronx Bombers against the Blue Jays and would up with a 5.12 ERA, giving up 11 earned runs on 22 hits in 19.1 innings pitched. Outside of that, he's pitched a combined 61 innings in 10 games against Toronto and owns a 2.91 ERA.

Granted, most of the Blue Jays hitters haven't faced Gray a ton, and he hasn't pitched against the Blue Jays since 2023, but the batters he has faced haven't faired particularly well. George Springer is a career .238 hitter in 25 plate appearances with one home run. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doesn't have a hit off Gray in six at bats against, him that includes just one walk.

Anthony Santander is 2-for-14 (.154 BA) and Andrés Giménez is 5-for-20 (.250 BA) with five strikeouts. The Blue Jays' hitter who has hit the best against Gray is Myles Straw. The right-handed hitting outfielder is a .500 lifetime hitter with six hits and four walks in 17 career plate appearances. The Blue Jays went 8-5 against the Red Sox in 2025 but with the addition of a pitcher of Gray's caliber, the season series might be even tighter in 2026.

Gray was also the starter for the Minnesota Twins in Game 2 of their 2023 AL Wild Card series against the Blue Jays. Gray shutdown the Blue Jays with five innings of five-hit ball, striking out six and walking two in a game the Twins won 2-0 to end the Blue Jays season.