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The starting pitcher trade market is open for business.
The Reds traded former Yankee Sonny Gray and minor league right-hander Francis Peguero to Minnesota for their 2021 first-round pick, pitcher Chase Petty, per multiple reports.
Gray, 32, had a 4.19 ERA last season and would have likely been the fourth or fifth starter in a solid Cincinnati rotation. Instead, he’ll slot in as a dependable veteran for a Minnesota team coming off a terrible 2021 and looking to retool.
It’s curious that the Twins would give up Petty, the 26th pick in the draft last summer, for an older starter when the team is unlikely to compete this season.
Gray, though, has a solid history — he was an All-Star as recently as 2019 — and fills a need for them.
As for the Reds, they offload Gray’s contract, which will see him paid $10.2 million this season with a $12 million club option for 2023, and get a first-round pitcher back in the process.
Cincinnati’s rotation, though, gets thinner on the back end, with a competition incoming for the last two spots.
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