Cardinals Finalizing Sonny Gray Contract to Complete Aged Rotation

After adding 37-year-old Lance Lynn and 36-year-old Kyle Gibson earlier in the offseason, the Cardinals went younger by landing 34-year-old Sonny Gray on a deal reportedly worth $75 million over three years. They may be done shopping for starters at this point and are almost certainly out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which is good news for the Cubs all around. Including Steven Matz (33) and Miles Mikolas (35), Cards starters will average 35 years of age next season.

Gray is actually a very strong addition coming off the best season of his career, a feat made possible by the addition of a nasty sweeper. Eno Sarris of The Athletic noted that the pitch was No. 1 in terms of results and No. 22 according to Stuff+ among all pitchers with at least 100 innings last year. Though Gray’s strikeouts over two years with the Twins were down from his three seasons in Cincinnati, his walks were also lower and he kept the ball in the yard to a greater degree.

He’s also the only projected St. Louis starter who gave up fewer hits (156) than innings pitched (184) last season. All told, the group surrendered 877 hits over 866 innings. They also combined for just 248 walks and 766 strikeouts, so we’re talking about a group that throws a whole lot of hittable strikes. Not exactly the kind of thing that will have opposing lineups shaking in their cleats.

These dudes have all been around the block a time or two, however, and they’re all capable of shutting teams down when they’re right. But with an undefeated Father Time nipping ever closer at their heels, you have to question whether such a rotation is going to be enough to get the Cards back into contention in the Central.