Sonny Gray is back in action for the Athletics after missing about seven weeks with a forearm strain, with the club announcing his activation from the 15-day DL. Gray is expected to start today for one final time this season, but he’ll be limited to a strict pitch count.
Gray, 26, is looking to end his forgettable campaign on a relative high note by returning to the major league mound. He has twice been sidelined by injury, and has handled only 116 innings to date. The results just have not been there for a pitcher who previously featured as a front-line starter. Gray carries a 5.74 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 to go with a 54.3% groundball rate.
Those major peripherals aren’t really out of line with his prior marks, but Gray has been plagued by a shift in his ability to suppress the damage on batted balls. He has previously maintained a low batting average on balls put in play while limiting the homeruns, but this year he surrendered a .318 BABIP and 17.8% HR/FB rate, with 10.2 hits and 1.4 dingers per nine leading to a flood of earned runs.
For the A’s, there isn’t much to do but hope that Gray can ramp back up for a fresh start in 2017. Hopefully, at least, the arm troubles can be put behind him after a full winter of rest and preparation. Oakland won’t pay nearly as much as it might have expected for Gray’s services next year, as his first year of arbitration will be built off of this highly disappointing campaign — though the 491 innings of 2.88 ERA pitching he compiled heading into the season will certainly still result in a solid payday.
I feel like if he pitches well today this could be more of a showcase game for them to trade him In the off season. The market is down on him based on his performance this year but the A’s by holding onto him are gambling that he bounces back which if you take the Giants in Tim Lincecum’s first down year…is quite a gamble
Not a chance even if he pitches well I don’t see them trading him low!
“Trading him low” assumes that his value will increase. Which is not certain, which is the point that op was making.
My thought’s exactly. Given Gray’s potential value, his recent injury history, and the A’s position in the standings, there’s no reason to have done anything but shut him down for the year. The fact that they’re rolling him out for one seemingly meaningless start conveys management is reasonably confident that he’ll perform well and that theyreally using it to showcase him for a possible trade this offseason.
If not healthy then they have plenty of choices i.e. Manea, Cotton, Graveman, Alcala, et al… It should be a fun 2017 season…
I think this would be a good guy for the braves to go after. personal opinion and I don’t care if you think it’s dumb.