For Gray, the future seems elsewhere
It’s good news for the A’s that Sonny Gray’s name is heating up in trade speculation. It means Gray is healthy and pitching well.
Therein lies the great paradox. It’s a shame, but it’s business.
Gray’s name wasn’t prevalent on the rumor mill last season because he spent so much time on the disabled list and his ERA was so high, and it was a similar story after he got hurt in spring training.
Only lately have we heard Gray’s name floated as a possible target for contenders, and that’s because he regained his groove and is pitching like his old self, especially Wednesday when he beat the Marlins by yielding one run in seven innings while striking out 11 and walking one.
It’s not that the A’s or their fans want to part with the popular pitcher, but considering his service time, relative affordability and anticipated production and the team’s ongoing pursuit to accumulate prospects and look ahead, a Gray trade should almost be expected.
That’s life with the A’s, top players on the verge of making major dollars constantly being dealt for younger, cheaper talent. The cycle has been in place for years, and there’s no reason to expect a change anytime soon, even with a different vibe under new President Dave Kaval.
The A’s revenue-sharing checks are incrementally disappearing. Their attendance ranks 29th in the majors, nearly 4,000 fans below the average of the No. 28 White Sox. A new stadium still is a dream, not a reality, though a site is to be declared by the end of the year.
The most encouraging sign, remarkably, is how well the team has played of late. The A’s won five of seven before losing Saturday. Don’t look now, but heading into Saturday they were 3½ games back in the wild-card standings.
The A’s are hitting a bunch of home runs and getting solid pitching, but all their errors and injuries make it difficult to sustain success. Barring any surprises, they’re expected to be sellers leading to the July 31 trade deadline and are in need of young outfielders, especially in center.
The biggest chip would be Gray, a free agent after the 2019 season. His slider made the Marlins look silly, so many swings and misses on pitches out of the strike zone. Of the 11 K’s, six came on pitches that bounced to catcher Josh Phegley.
For that many strikeouts in that many innings, 88 pitches is refreshingly efficient. No signs of the lat muscle strain that shelved him until May 2. His last two starts, he has 17 strikeouts in 13 innings.
“The main thing that you can take away is, I feel healthy,” Gray said. “I’m not doing anything different. There’s nothing that clicked. There’s nothing that mechanically I changed. There’s nothing that I’m trying to do differently.
“I just feel healthy. I feel I can do what I want to with the ball again. My breaking ball is sharp, and that all stems from me mentally and physically feeling healthy, and that’s kind of the biggest takeaway from these last couple of starts.
“I feel from pitch one I can do what I want to with the baseball.”
Breath of fresh air: Kaval’s work has been commendable. On his watch, the A’s relocated FanFest to Jack London Square. Removed the tarps. Named the field after Rickey Henderson. Put up the “Holy Toledo” sign in honor of Bill King. Wheeled in food trucks. Sold monthly passes for 20 bucks. And lowered beer prices.
He actually listens to fans, a refreshing development. But the majority owner remains John Fisher, who’s not willing to pay top dollar for players, a mentality that’s expected to stick at least until ground is broken on a new yard — still a big if.
Meantime, their premier starting pitcher could soon be on the trade block because the better he pitches, the greater his trade value. It’s the cold, cruel reality.
Around the majors: Odd seeing Ichiro Suzuki, 43, not hitting. We thought he’d be able to rake until he’s 50, but he’s batting .150 for the Marlins and isn’t running the same. Ichiro once legged out 64 infield hits in a season. He once stole 56 bases in a season. This year, he has zero in each category. … Five starting pitchers aside from Gray expected to be trade targets: Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole, the White Sox’s Jose Quintana, Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer, Kansas City’s Jason Vargas, Toronto’s Marco Estrada . ... Five contenders that could use rotation help: Yankees, Astros, Cubs, Rockies, Brewers . ... Red Sox manager John Farrell could be on the hot seat. There are questions of whether he’s losing control of the team, and it didn’t help that separate dugout incidents involving Drew Pomeranz and Dustin Pedroia, both unflattering for Farrell, were caught on camera. Even with David Price’s injury and David Ortiz’s retirement, the Red Sox weren’t supposed to be this mediocre. … The streaking Diamondbacks crumbled last season after A.J. Pollock’s elbow injury on the eve of the opener, and they’re trying to prevent a repeat now that Pollock has a groin injury. In a team meeting, none other than Gregor Blanco shared stories about how the Giants succeeded despite losses to key players, two of whom (Melky Cabrera in 2012 and Angel Pagan in 2014) Blanco replaced during playoff runs. … Frank Robinson, who was honored with a statue in Cleveland, where he was the majors’ first African American manager, was also the first African American manager in the National League when he took over the Giants and will be honored in San Francisco on Sept. 13. It would be fitting if Robinson was acknowledged with a permanent display at AT&T Park.