New York Yankees acquire Sonny Gray

After weeks of speculation and hand-wringing, Sonny Gray has a new home.

Sonny Gray is under club control through 2019, and he’s not going to be breaking the bank in the next two seasons, which adds even more to his value moving forward. Oh, and on the field he has a 0.98 ERA in three post All Star game starts amid all of the trade rumors and hubbub. He should be able to handle New York because he has ice in his veins.

Gray made multiple trips to the disabled list last season en route to the worst year of his young career (5-11, 5.69 ERA) following his Cy Young caliber performance in 2015.

After missing the first month of 2017 Gray has returned to his former self, especially of late. On the year he holds a 3.43 ERA across 97 innings and has seen his strikeout rate increase to nearly one an inning after a previous high of 7.5 per nine over a full season’s worth of starts.

The debate over the weekend was mostly about Gray’s value. A’s fans, and likely their front office, view Gray as a top starter if not the ace of a rotation. Hence they wanted a big return. Yankees fans, and maybe to a lesser degree their own front office, viewed Gray as a third or fourth starter in the Yanks rotation. The hold up had been finding a middle ground that “hurt” for both clubs, as Joel Sherman wrote about over the weekend.

The deal, according to Jeff Passan, includes Jorge Mateo (#8), Dustin Fowler (#4) and James Kaprielian (#12). Mateo is the only player that is currently healthy, with Fowler being lost for the season in his big league debut when he collided with the wall in right, while Kaprielian had Tommy John surgery in April. Fowler also ranks on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list at number 77, giving the A’s four players on the list now in addition to Franklin Barreto (37), A.J. Puk (39) and Matt Chapman (91).

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Mateo is the only sure piece for the A’s and even he has fallen in the rankings according to Baseball America (#26 before 2016, #85 before 2017) and MLB Pipeline (30, 47). Mateo had been with Double-A Trenton where he was batting .300 over 30 games with four homers, 26 RBI and eleven steals in 18 opportunities.

Kaprielian, 23, could be back to pitching in the early part of next season. He had reached Hi-A with the Yankees last season, but will likely start off with either Vermont or Beloit when he is deemed healthy for the A’s.

Fowler is the pure outfielder that Oakland needed to add, and he is ranked one spot ahead of the much-rumored trade chip Estevan Florial, who was likely the sticking point in these discussions. At 22, Fowler is a little above average in every facet of the game with his speed and his efforts in the field being his best attributes. In Triple-A he had been manning each outfield position, but spent the majority of his time in center.

In addition to Mateo, the A’s can play Fowler in right, especially while he’s testing out his knee, and Mateo in center, giving them two solid outfield additions. Mateo could also stick in the middle infield and slot Chad Pinder in right with Fowler in center. Mateo’s versatility likely played a big role here.

Next: Brewers re-acquire Jeffress

All in all, this is an interesting deal for the A’s. They went for quality over quantity, which is A-OK, but two of their three biggest additions are currently on the disabled list which is obviously a huge risk to be taking for what could end up being the team’s last big trade chip as they continue their rebuild.