When the Boston Red Sox picked up Sonny Gray for Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts — all while convincing the St. Louis Cardinals to eat roughly half of his remaining salary — it seemed as though Craig Breslow had successfully scooped up an affordable short-term co-ace for Garrett Crochet.
Gray may be removed from his 2023 peak when he led the league in FIP (2.83) and finished second in AL Cy Young voting with the Minnesota Twins, but he still led the Senior Circuit in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.29) and handled more than 180 innings for the second time in three years.