Moments ago, Jeff Passan of ESPN tweeted that the Yankees and the Reds have officially traded Sonny Gray to play in Cincinnati.
Currently, the total return for the Yankees is unknown, yet many reports before the deal became official listed that 2B prospect Shed Long will be in the deal, which Jeff Passan had confirmed would be heading to New York, for a moment.
However, Passan now reports that the Mariners will be getting Long, and the Yankees are getting back OF prospect Josh Stowers from the Mariners. Ken Rosenthal has confirmed this reporting.
In addition, it was reported that the Reds were talking to Sonny Gray about an extension by both Ken Rosenthal and Jon Heyman over this past weekend (check out our coverage from this past weekend, here).
Now, Ken Rosenthal is tweeting that a Gray extension has been announced for 3-Years (2020-2022), $30.5 Million (with a 2023 club option, plus bonus incentives). Keep in mind, Gray is already under contract for 2019 at a salary of $7.5 Million from arbitration.
A Plethora of Tweets Incoming:
Sonny Gray has been traded to the Cincinnati Reds, a source familiar with the deal tells ESPN. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 21, 2019
Moments after Jeff Passan broke the news that Sonny Gray was officially going to be heading to the Cincinnati Reds, Ken Rosenthal added to the story that the Reds are going to be signing the RHP to an extension.
The extension will add three more years from 2019 (which will be his $7.5 Million contract from arbitration) covering Gray’s 2020 to 2022 seasons and will include a guaranteed $30.5 Million. On top of this, the Reds have also included a 2023 club-option for another $12 Million.
Gray extension with #Reds complete, per source. Three years, $30.5M, covering 2020-22. Club option for ‘23 at $12M. All salaries can grow based on numerous escalators. Plus $500K of innings pitched bonuses each year. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 21, 2019
Now that the details of the talked about reason for a “hold-up” on this deal from when it was first speculated by Jon Heyman a few days ago in the extension have been announced, lets dive into the players that the Yankees will be giving up and receiving for the right-handed starting pitcher.
First, as has been reported by many baseball writers, comes 2B prospect Shed Long, who was recently the Reds #7 Team prospect by MLB.com from the end of the 2018 season , and should be expected to be in a similar ranking when it comes to this years announcement for the…MARINERS?
Second base prospect Shed Long is headed to the Yankees as part of the return for Sonny Gray, league sources tell ESPN. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 21, 2019
In a last minute change from the original announcement, it now appears that the Yankees will be sending Shed Long to the Seattle Mariners for a different prospect, now announced to be OF Josh Stowers.
Josh Stowers was recently the Seattle Mariners #10 prospect from the 2018 MLB.com Top-30 prospects lists, and like stated above with Shed Long, Stowers should be expected to be in a similar position when it comes to this years list for the 2019 Yankees prospects.
Shed Long to the Mariners and Josh Stowers to the Yankees is done, league sources tell ESPN. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 21, 2019
Source confirms: #Yankees sending minor-league IF Shed Long to #Mariners for minor-league OF Josh Stowers. First with this element: @JeffPassan. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 21, 2019
In addition to the Yankees sending Sonny Gray to the Reds, they will also be sending LHP Reiver Sanmartin (who was not a Yankees Top-30 prospect), while recieving back the expected 2019 Draft Pick that was also highly speculated to be traded to the Yankees. Credits to C. Trents Rosecrans for this addition to the trade.
Reds also get LHP Reiver Sanmartin for Shed Long and comp pick — C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) January 21, 2019
As many people are probably now wondering, why did the Yankees send 2B Shed Long to the Mariners for a prospect in OF Josh Stowers who MLB.com has recently listed as a worse overall player (45 Overall vs. Long’s 50 Overall).
Ken Rosenthal reports that the Yankees are (obviously) high on the Mariners 2nd Round Pick from last years draft in Stowers, and that one major piece to the roster puzzle is fixed with getting Stowers instead of Long- not needing to be added to the 40-Man roster. (The trading of Gray also now makes room for Adam Ottavino to be added to the 40-Man roster.)
#Yankees high on Stowers, who was #Mariners’ 2nd-round pick in 2018. Also: Unlike Long, Stowers does not need to be added to 40-man roster. So, NYY gets last year’s 54th overall pick plus 36th selection in ‘19 for Gray, a pitcher they wanted to trade, and LHP Reiver Sanmartin. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 21, 2019
I’d also like to add that the draft pick the Yankees are getting in this 2019 Draft will be the 36th Overall Pick (as stated above by Rosenthal), and teams are currently valuing this pick at around $10 Million, as stated by Jeff Passan.
The Cincinnati Reds clearly believe Sonny Gray is going to return to form based on the price they paid. Shed Long is a big leaguer. And the draft pick they gave up is valued in the $10M range by teams. That’s $20M+ in value alone before guaranteeing Gray $38M over four seasons. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 21, 2019
Hopefully, there are no more crazy last-minute additions to this deal, and now that it appears everything that needs to be announced is completed, it can overall be summed up quite easily as:
The Yankees traded RHP Sonny Gray and LHP Reiver Sanmartin to the Cincinnati Reds for 2B Shed Long and the 36th Overall Pick in the 2019 MLB Draft. Then, the Reds agreed to a 3-Year Extension for $30.5 Million with Gray (adding a 4th year team-option for $12 Million for 2023).
Then, the Yankees traded 2B Long to the Seattle Mariners for OF Josh Stowers and 40-Man Roster space (for adding Adam Ottavino).
And, here are the Yankees two official tweets on the two trades that happened earlier today, just to make everything officially official.
The Yankees announced today that they have acquired 2B Shed Long and a Competitive Balance Round A pick in the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Sonny Gray and LHP Reiver Sanmartín. — Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) January 21, 2019
The @Yankees announced today that they have acquired OF Josh Stowers from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for 2B Shed Long. — Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) January 21, 2019
