The A’s have, in Sonny Gray, a potential No. 1 starter for their rotation. They also have a potentially excellent trade chip.
The decision for Oakland not only is whether to deal the 27-year-old right-hander, but when, if indeed they decide it’s best to pull the trigger.
It makes for one of the major leagues’ better storylines in this offseason that’s already been marked by speculation of which upper-echelon starters could be on the move. The White Sox’s Chris Sale, the Rays’ Chris Archer and Gray are three of the biggest names that get discussed. All are 28 or younger, and Gray and Archer have the added bonus of being under team control for three more seasons.
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SIGN UP HERE The overall weakness of this winter’s free agent crop of starters makes it even more likely that teams in search of pitching might get aggressive in going the trade route.
“I’d be surprised if at least one of them was not traded,” Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal said in the most recent A’s Insider Podcast at CSNCalifornia.com. “There’s simply too much demand and too little supply on the free agent market.”
The fact that some of the better free agent starters have already been signed, including R.A. Dickey, Andrew Cashner, Bartolo Colon and Charlie Morton, thins out a talent pool that was already lacking depth.
So teams could come after Gray, a 2015 Cy Young finalist who stumbled to a 5-11 record and 5.69 ERA in a 2016 season that included two trips to the disabled list. How confident these teams are that Gray will rebound plays into how much they would be willing to give up in a trade. And how much teams are willing to give up influences whether the A’s would consider parting with him.
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“I’m not so sure this is the right time to trade him,” Rosenthal said, “because obviously if he puts together a good first half you’ve got the best guy at the (trade) deadline. At the same time, there’s always the risk he gets hurt again. Maybe he doesn’t bounce back, maybe you lose value. I’m sure the A’s will explore it all. Will they make a deal? I don’t know the answer to that.”
Rosenthal also shares his thoughts on the trade interest that A’s catcher Stephen Vogt could generate, and what he views as the most interesting American League West storyline as the winter meetings approach Dec. 5.