Twins acquire Gray from Reds

The Cincinnati Reds have traded Sonny Gray to the Minnesota Twins, it was announced just a bit ago. The Twins are sending 2021 first rounder Chase Petty to Cincinnati in the deal, and are also getting Francis Peguero from the Reds.

Gray, 32, has been expected to be dealt for a while now, as the Reds are going into cost-savings mode amid what I guess is a rebuild of some sort. Gray profiles to be a nice #3 starter, someone who figures to be worth 2-3 wins per year for the next couple of years. Gray isn’t exactly a workhorse, but he’ll give you 150-170 innings and be someone you can plug into the middle of the rotation and forget about. If his 2023 option is exercised, the Twins will pay about $22 million over the next two seasons for Gray.

For that sort of production and at that price, I’d have expected the Reds to get more in return than Chase Petty, the 26th overall pick in the 2021 draft. Petty is a hard-throwing righthanded pitcher who was a high school draftee from New Jersey, and who received a $2.5 million bonus from the Twins to sign last summer. Petty is a nice enough prospect, but I’d have expected something better than a late first rounder that the Reds didn’t have to pay the signing bonus on in exchange for Gray.

Peguero seems to be a throw-in, a 24 year old righthanded reliever from San Pedro de Macoris. 2021 was his first season above rookie ball, and he had an ERA near 5.00 in high-A.

Gray is someone that we have discussed as a possible Rangers’ trade target, and I’d be curious to know what the Rangers were offering for him (if they were offering), and what the Reds’ ask from Texas was (if they were asking). The closest comp I can think of to Petty in the Rangers’ system is probably T.K. Roby, though Petty is probably valued higher than Roby.