Overview
- At the Winter Meetings, Yankees GM Brian Cashman recounted a 2018 meeting in which he says Sonny Gray told him he never wanted to be in New York and that his agent advised him to say he did to protect future free agency.
- Gray’s agent, Bo McKinnis, rejected Cashman’s account, arguing Gray had no no-trade rights with Oakland in 2017, calling the idea he told Gray to lie “zero sense,” and denying Gray ever said he wanted out of Oakland.
- Earlier this month, after being traded to Boston, Gray said New York wasn’t a good situation for him and that he “never wanted to go there,” adding it’s “easy to hate the Yankees.”
- Gray struggled with the Yankees, going 15-16 with roughly a 4.5 ERA before a 2018 demotion and a January 2019 trade to Cincinnati, after which he regained All-Star form.
- The exchange is being covered as fresh fuel for the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry, with Gray’s move to Boston from St. Louis already completed in November.