The Cincinnati Reds reportedly pursued Sonny Gray, the runner-up in the 2023 American League Cy Young Award voting, in free agency this winter. Gray, the former Red, eventually signed with the rival St. Louis Cardinals on a 3-year, $75 million contract, while the Reds turned around and spent potentially $86.25 million on other pitching options for their staff.
It’s hard not to view that pursuit/pivot as something of a challenge. The Reds, after all, will now have to go right through Gray and the Cardinals for NL Central supremacy for the next few years, and will have to do so with the arms they signed after he made the decision not to the club he pitched for from 2019-2021 (or the club for whom he grew up rooting).