(The Sports Xchange) – Sonny Gray is headed to the Big Apple.
Gray is joining the Yankees after the former All-Star right-hander was traded to New York by the Oakland Athletics ahead of Monday afternoon’s non-waiver trade deadline.
The Athletics acquired outfielder Dustin Fowler, right-hander James Kaprielian and infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo in the deal. The Yankees also acquired $1.5 million in international bonus money.
Gray, 27, went 6-5 with a 3.43 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 16 starts with Oakland this season.
The former No. 18 overall pick in the 2011 amateur draft spent his first five-plus seasons with the Athletics, compiling a 44-36 record with a 3.42 ERA and 607 strikeouts over 114 career outings (112 starts).
Gray won 14 games in back-to-back seasons with the A’s in 2014 and 2015, with his 14-7 record, 2.73 ERA and 169 strikeouts earning him his lone All-Star selection in 2015.
Over that two-year span, Gray posted a 28-17 record in 64 starts with a 2.91 ERA and 352 punch outs, with a career-high 183 of those strikeouts coming in 2014.
CC Sabathia, who helped lead the Yankees to their most recent World Series title in 2009, believes the team is knocking on the door of another championship now that Gray is in the fold.
“We’re back to the same old Yankees,” Sabathia told reporters Monday. “The goal is to win the World Series. We’re here now.”
Neither Fowler, 22, or Kaprielian, 23, will be able to make instant impacts within the Oakland organization, as both are currently sidelined with injuries. Fowler underwent season-ending knee surgery and Kaprielian is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Mateo, 22, thanked the Yankees’ organization in a tweet after the trade was completed.
“I would like to thank the Yankee organization for the opportunity they gave me. I also want to thank all the Yankee fan for there support,” Mateo wrote on his Twitter account.
New York also traded right-hander Yefry Ramirez to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for international bonus pool money.
(Editing by Steve Keating in Toronto)
