Cardinals are getting high praise for their first offseason blockbuster

The St. Louis Cardinals had their first major domino of the 2025 MLB offseason fall the other day as they traded Sonny Gray to the Boston Red Sox for right-handed pitcher Richard Fitts and left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Clarke.

In the aftermath of the deal, plenty of takes and reactions have been given out regarding how the Cardinals did in the deal. On our emergency podcast in the wake of the blockbuster on Dealin' the Cards, we had high praise for the quality of return the Cardinals managed to get in return for Gray. You can check out that podcast breakdown here or in the video embedded below.

Although I saw this to be a great deal, I did want to check and see what the pulse was on this trade nationally, and for the most part, the Cardinals were getting high praise.

Many national writers are praising the Cardinals for their return in the Sonny Gray trade

Many different outlets reacted to this trade for the Cardinals, with one of the most respected voices in the industry, Ken Rosenthal, speaking highly of what the Cardinals were able to pull off here on the Foul Territory show.

Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic and Foul Territory
"I thought the Cardinals did well. They did well to get Richard Fitts, who is a Major League pitcher, and [Brandon] Clarke, who is one of the Red Sox's, or had been one of the Red Sox's top prospects. They sent the Red Sox $20 million...but the Cardinals get players, they get financial relief, and because this deal was front-loaded, Gray's three-year, $75 million deal, they got the value out of Gray in those first two years, and now the big money has to go be paid by the Red Sox, in part with the Cardinals. So, I thought the Cardinals did well. I'm not sure the Red Sox did well enough."

Over on The Athletic's publication, Chad Jennings and Zack Meisel both reacted to the deal and graded both sides of the return, and both thought the deal made a ton of sense for the Cardinals.

Chad Jennings, The Athletic
"The Cardinals, on the other hand, are where the Red Sox were five years ago. They’re resetting, and another year of Gray would have been a waste. They’re paying down his enormous salary but are getting two big arms in return, one of whom (Fitts) can immediately move into Gray’s rotation spot. Fitts isn’t an ace, but he’s a solid option with the raw stuff to potentially fall back into a multi-inning relief role. Clarke is farther away but offers greater upside, and again, has a solid floor as a hard-throwing reliever. Two big arms are a quality return for an overpaid rental.

Zack Meisel, The Athletic
"As for the Cardinals, what were they going to do with a 36-year-old starter anyway? They’ve been bracing everyone for a rebuild, and they just forked over $20 million to jump-start it. Fitts can slide right into their rotation and Bloom can start daydreaming about making his old organization regret bailing on Clarke. These teams were a great match, and it’s entirely possible both sides wind up pleased, just at drastically different times."

Over on CBS Sports, R.J. Anderson spoke highly of both sides of the deal, believing that in this moment, it was a great move for both the Cardinals and Red Sox, but did believe that this could be a lopsided deal in favor of St. Louis if Clarke develops nicely.

R.J. Anderson, CBS Sports
"The Cardinals were quiet last winter as they planned out their transition from John Mozeliak's leadership to Chaim Bloom's. Now that Bloom is officially in charge of baseball operations, he's not wasting much time reworking the roster to his liking. The process that started with Tuesday's Gray trade, a deal that netted the Cardinals a readymade Gray replacement and a tantalizing upside play...If the Cardinals can help [Clarke] make any progress with his location, he could turn this into a lopsided swap."

Now, there are for sure people out there who did not love the deal for the Cardinals. For example, ESPN's David Schoenfield gave the Cardinals a "C" grade and called this more of a salary dump deal.

On top of all of those reactions, two of the most well respected names in Cardinals' prospect coverage, Kareem Haq and Kyle Reis, joined up for a breakdown of the return as well on the most recent episode of Birds on the Farm, and they too had high praise for what the Cardinals got in return, especially the kind of upside that Clarke presents.

All in all, it seems like the industry thinks the Cardinals did well in the Sonny Gray trade, and huge props should be given to Chaim Bloom for getting Cardinals' ownership to eat significant money on Gray's deal to up the return they got. Because of that, the Cardinals were able to swing a great return for their aging ace.