The St Louis Cardinals are entering a rebuild in 2025. They did not improve their areas of weakness this offseason and could be headed toward a last-place finish in the NL Central. One of those positions was starting pitcher, where they have a lot of veterans who could be traded. Sonny Gray is not improving his trade stock with a brutal spring training for the Cardinals. The Athletic’s Katie Woo has the numbers from another poor performance on Sunday.
“That is about as rough as it gets for a spring outing for Sonny Gray,” Woo posted on social media. “Gray is pulled with one out in the fourth, his third consecutive [roll-over] inning. He threw 72 pitches, [and] was tagged for 7 ER. He’s given up six homers over 9 1/3 innings this spring. It has not looked good.”
Gray has made three starts for the Cardinals in spring training and has only pitched 9.2 innings. He has allowed 15 runs on 16 hits in those appearances. Manager Oliver Marmol has tried to use the roll-over inning rule to help Gray and it has not worked. That is when a pitcher comes out of a spring game in the middle of an inning but returns for the start of the next one.
The Cardinals must increase Sonny Gray’s trade value
This season in St Louis is not about winning. They brought former Red Sox and Rays executive Chaim Bloom in to oversee their minor-league operation this year and take over the whole team next year. They let Paul Goldschmidt walk and tried to trade Nolan Arenado. This is finally a rebuild and they are fooling no one. So getting solid starts from pitchers who they could trade will be important.
Every contender needs a starting pitcher by the MLB trade deadline. Despite this spring performance, a team may pay up for Gray by then. But he needs to perform well to get that far. Miles Mikolas, Erick Fedde, and Steven Matz are all on expiring contracts, which Gray is not. They will be better trade assets at the deadline.
Despite the lack of expectations in St Louis, they still have players to watch for the future. Shortstop Masyn Winn is the biggest name thanks to his solid season last year. Michael Siani, Brandon Donavan, and Nolan Gorman are the other names who make up the core they hope can bring them back to the playoffs. For now, it is tough sledding for the Cardinals.
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