Cardinals get AL Cy Young runner-up Sonny Gray to anchor revamped starting rotation #Cardinals #Young #runnerup #Sonny #Gray #anchor #revamped #starting #rotation

The St. Louis Cardinals made their biggest splash yet in an attempt to revamp their lackluster rotation, agreeing with AL Cy Young runner-up Sonny Gray on a three-year contract Monday to anchor their staff heading into next season.

John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, already had signed free agent right-handers Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn to one-year deals. Mozeliak indicated during a news conference announcing their arrivals that the Cardinals were not done, saying “this is not the finish line” and that “there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Turns out the work produced the 34-year-old Gray, who went 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA for Minnesota last season. Gray turned down a qualifying offer from the Twins, and St. Louis will lose its second-highest pick in next year’s amateur draft for signing him.

The Cardinals finished 71-91 last season for their worst record since 1995, and the biggest culprit was their poor pitching. Their rotation had a 5.08 ERA, fifth worst in the major leagues, and when you add the bullpen to the mix, they had a 4.79 ERA that ranked 24th.

With only right-hander Miles Mikolas and left-hander Steven Matz under contract for 2024, the Cardinals moved quickly to sign Lynn and Gibson in the hopes that they could absorb innings on the back end of the rotation.

The 36-year-old Lynn, a two-time All-Star and part of the Cardinals’ 2011 World Series championship team, went 13-11 with the White Sox and Dodgers last season. Gibson, also 36, went 15-9 with a 4.73 ERA for AL East champion Baltimore last season.

Gray is expected to be right at the front of the rotation.

The former first-round pick of the A’s spent four seasons in Oakland, struggled during the 2018 season with the New York Yankees, then had a breakthrough after a 2019 trade to the Reds. He went 23-20 with a 3.89 ERA over three seasons in Cincinnati.

Gray was dealt to Minnesota last year, where his season was derailed by hamstring and pectoral injuries. But he bounced back with the best season of his 11-year career, finishing second to the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole in AL Cy Young voting.