Those who emptied their lungs to boo Sonny Gray on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium may not get another chance to tear into the right-hander.
As of Sunday, Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman said there were no plans to skip Gray’s next start, which is scheduled for Friday night in Toronto against the Blue Jays. However, with Thursday dark on the Yankees’ schedule, Boone has the option of skipping Gray, whom the Red Sox rocked in Saturday evening’s 11-0 loss.
“Those are conversations we always have, but it’s my expectation that he will make his next start,” Boone said before the Yankees hosted the Red Sox on Sunday night at a sweltering Yankee Stadium. “A lot of times it’s not just about the individual, what is our schedule, what is our rotation, our roster situation. When we have a day off in there, we can manipulate things, but we haven’t talked about altering [the rotation].”
Cashman says rotation decisions belong to pitching coach Larry Rothschild and Boone. However, Cashman did say, “If you’re asking if we’re trying to avoid his next start, I would say no.”
Based on the way Boone talked about unlocking Gray’s talents being a job for the staff and what he thought about Gray’s harsh criticism of himself following Saturday night’s debacle, it doesn’t sound like the Yankees are in the process of giving up on the 28-year-old right-hander, who cost them three prospects last July when acquired from the A’s.
Neither Boone nor Cashman was alarmed about Gray saying, “I feel like we are the best team in baseball four out of five days and I do that,” after giving up six runs and seven hits in 2 ¹/₃ innings Saturday night. Nor did they take the pitcher’s comments as a sign Gray had lost confidence in himself.
“The thing I would say about that is Sonny is 28 years old, and he has been a really good pitcher in this league. Adversity is not the worst thing,” Boone said of Gray, who is 5-6 with a 5.44 ERA in 16 starts in which the Yankees are 7-9. He is 2-3 with an 8.25 ERA at home and 3-3 with a 3.28 ERA on the road. “The good thing about Sonny is that he has the equipment to get this right.’’
Cashman said he respected Gray, who is 0-2 with a 20.25 ERA in two starts against the Red Sox this season, facing the noise instead of running from it.
“I think him being accountable is very good and healthy as we try to move through this. He is being accountable and regretful about his performance of late, since he’s been here,’’ Cashman said. “That’s helpful in the process, I think.”
Gray’s struggles haven’t forced Cashman to increase his search for a starter.
“I was pursuing a starter regardless. I’ve been pursuing a starter since last winter, since last summer. We’re always in pursuit of starting pitching,” he said.
As for the market, Cashman said there are deals to be made now, but the price isn’t right.
“I’ve had GMs tell me if you give me what I want, I’ll do the deal right now. But what they want, I don’t want to give them. I want to do business in a proper way, but it’s not gonna be at all costs,’’ Cashman said.
Gray had a five-game stretch from May 20 to June 13 when he went 2-1 with a 3.23 ERA. In his last two starts, however, Gray is 0-2 (so are the Yankees) and has an ERA of 10.00.
Gray’s entire body of work hasn’t been good.
“How he’s pitched is a concern because it’s been a long enough time. All I can tell you is he’s capable of more. He knows it, we know it,’’ Cashman said. “My job is to continue to find ways to improve this roster and give our manager as many choices as possible. We’ll see.”
— Additional reporting by Dan Martin
