Why Sonny Gray makes sense for Atlanta and how a deal could work
Lindsay Crosby explains why Sonny Gray's Nashville roots and connection to the Braves make him a logical trade target from Boston, while breaking down how the $10 million buyout complicates the deal and why an extension would be the smarter path forward.
Video Transcript
So if you're looking to add a starter, obviously the goal is to get somebody who can be in that first group.
The issue is that's what everybody wants.
And I think you're not gonna find a guy to be a number one, right?
A number one caliber guy.
Not that Atlanta would supplant Chris Sale.
Chris Sale will start game one if he's healthy.
But something like that.
And so I keep thinking, like, we're not gonna get a Tarik Skubal.
We're probably not gonna be the team that ends up getting a Joe Ryan.
I keep thinking about if Sonny Gray has been connected to the Braves for a long time.
He's from Nashville.
We arguably would've signed him before he went to St. Louis if he didn't have that qualifying offer, right?
And so I keep thinking about that would make a lot of sense, provided you can figure out some way to mitigate the $10 million buyout he's owed for 2027.
It's a mutual option.
Those are almost never picked up, and if you don't pick it up, you owe him 10 million bucks on the next year.
So the cost you're paying him ends up being a lot.
And yes, you're freeing up money next year, but that's a sunk cost.
I wouldn't be shocked if the Braves make a deal with the Red Sox to get Sonny Gray, and then end up signing him to some sort of extension that guarantees his salary for 2027 to get rid of that buyout and adds a 2028 club option to it.
I wouldn't be shocked if that's the outcome here.
And honestly, I don't want to take on Sonny Gray just for this.
It's a lot of money, and the thing that frustrates me is because of the way the mutual option works and everything, I believe with the league that $10 million would go on next year's payroll.
To me, paying $10 million for a player that is not here next season is dumb.
Maybe the Braves still do it.
Maybe the Braves still make that deal and just accept they're gonna have to pay the 10 million bucks.
But I think it'd be a much better way to handle this is to get him with an extension, right?
Maybe you agree to terms with Boston and then you hammer out the extension real quick, but get him with an extension
