Are the Twins likely to retain Sonny Gray this offseason? Here’s what Sonny Gray had to say about his future on Thursday, one day after Minnesota was eliminated from the playoffs by the Houston Astros.
“We want to go to a place where you feel wanted,” Gray began. “There are a lot of factors that go into those decisions. It’s not only me making it. As anyone who’s known me throughout the course of this year and last year, there are a lot of other things that go into it, my wife and my kids a big part of it. But I do love it here.”
Coming off a career year, Gray vaulted himself to the top of the heap in a weak free agent starting pitching market this winter so he won’t come cheap. Though the pending free agent told reporters, “Money is not the ultimate factor for me.”
The 33-year-old righty registered his third-highest innings pitched of his career with 184 innings. Gray notched the third lowest ERA in the majors this season (2.79) while striking out 183 batters. And he helped the Twins knock the Blue Jays out in the Wild Card round of the postseason before stumbling against the Astros.
After a mid-season spat between Gray and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, the writing may have appeared to be on the wall with Gray seeking a chance to pitch deeper into games. But that issue seemed to fix itself as the TWins went from 26th in the majors in innings pitched by starters per game at just 4.8 in 2022 to 5.5 this season, which ranked second in the majors.
With ace Pablo Lopez locked up to a new deal, the Twins look to have a rotation in 2024 that features some assortment of Lopez, Chris Paddack, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, with Gray and Kenta Maeda set to become free agents.
“I do truly believe there is something special going on in this clubhouse,” Gray said. “It’s definitely going in the right direction. But at the same time, it’s something we’re going to have to take a look at as a family and see what is the next step for us, not only as a baseball player, but where are the next three to four years of our lives going and what direction is that going to go in. I do know it’s going to be playing baseball, I just don’t know exactly where. But we’ve enjoyed every single moment that we’ve had since we got traded over here, not only the people in the clubhouse, the fans, the city, the organization — everyone has been as much as you can ask. It’s been an incredible experience.”
