Red Sox trade targets: High priced starting pitchers

Sonny Gray

Sep 2, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray (54) returns to the dugout after the top of the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

This very tweet, courtesy of @NEPD_Loyko (another tremendous Twitter follow for all things Boston sports), was my inspiration to look into this topic:

Unlike the newest Blue Jay Josh Donaldson, there are no indications Sonny Gray is available. But Billy Beane is doing a lot of work to reconstruct his roster and has not shied away from making big trades that raise eyebrows in the past. Gray would be an amazing get for the Red Sox.The 25 year old Gray pitched like an ace this past season with a 3.08 ERA in his first full season, pitching almost 220 innings and winning 14 games. He is not even arbitration eligible until 2017 and he will not sniff free agency until 2019.

This combination of success and affordability makes it unlikely the A’s will trade him, but there are a few things that make it possible. The A’s have a lot of young pitching with Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, Drew Pomeranz, and Jesse Chavez plus a few solid pitching prospects including former Red Sox (Andrew Baily trade) Raul Alcantara, Dillon Overton, and the recently brought in pitchers from Toronto: Kendall Graveman and Sean Nolin.

Conventional wisdom says they will trade Scott Kazmir or Jeff Samardzija, but with a lineup that was seriously lacking offense after trading away Yoenis Cespedes, it is possible they would be tempted to move their young ace for a package featuring Mookie Betts and Garin Cecchini, maybe throwing in Henry Owens too.