The St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to a deal with free agent pitcher Sonny Gray, according to ESPN and multiple reports.
Gray, 34, joins a revamped Cardinals rotation that also includes recent free agent additions Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson.
Gray is coming off a strong 2023 season with the Minnesota Twins. He finished second in AL Cy Young Award voting behind Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole and earned his third career All Star Game appearance.
The veteran right-hander made 32 starts, going 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA, striking out 183 batters over 184 innings.
Over 11 seasons with the A’s, Yankees, Reds and Twins, Gray is 98-85 with a 3.47 ERA.
The Cardinals entered the winter seeking three starting pitchers to fill out a beleaguered rotation whose 5.08 ERA was the fifth worst in baseball. Gray joins a new-look rotation with holdovers Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz along with Lynn and Gibson. The Cardinals also have young left-handers Matthew Liberatore, Zack Thompson and Drew Rom who all started games to varying degrees of effectiveness last season.
St. Louis ranked 26th in starters’ ERA last season and wasn’t shy about the need to add to its rotation after trading Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery during the season, combined with the retirement of Adam Wainwright.
St. Louis’ poor pitching led to the team’s worst full season (71-91) since 1990.
The agreement was first reported Monday by the New York Post.