The Cardinals are making a major wild card available at the MLB trade deadline

No one appears to be safe on the St. Louis Cardinals roster right now, and it sounds like Sonny Gray has at least thrown his name into the mix as someone who could be moved over the coming days.

In a report this morning from Katie Woo of The Athletic, the Cardinals are now "entertaining offers" on both Gray and Nolan Arenado, with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak calling rival contenders to gauge their interest in acquiring him. Earlier this week, Mozeliak said he would approach players with no-trade clauses on their roster about if they are open to being traded, so I doubt he'd be gauging the interest of teams on Gray if he were not open to being moved.

The St. Louis Cardinals are shopping Sonny Gray, who may be the most fascinating trade asset available at this deadline.

Gray, who was signed following the 2023 season to a three-year, $75 million deal, has been one of the more head-scratching pitchers in baseball this year, but even then, he still may be the best starter available to teams this week.

Gray is 10-4 on the year with a 4.33 ERA in 21 starts but saw that ERA balloon by almost a full run over his last two starts. Even with his down performances as of late, Gray still boasts a 3.02 FIP and 2.90 xFIP, striking out almost 10 batters per nine innings and lowering his HR/FB rate a bit from the massive spike it saw last year.

Looking around the industry, there aren't a lot of high-level starting pitchers who are expected to be available in a trade. There are some intriguing reclamation projects in the vein of Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen, but both players have been really bad this year. There are some nice starters like Merrill Kelly available, but he's not a potential front-line starter like Gray. Dylan Cease could be made available by the Padres, but that will require a "baseball trade" of big league talent, which some contenders may not want to do.

Gray may be the only front-line starter available who has had a good year that could take a prospect package to acquire.

I get it, some people may look at the 4.33 ERA and say Gray is not pitching like a number-two starter, and if a team believes that as well, then they won't go after Gray. But there will be teams who look at Gray's under-the-hood metrics and performance and see someone capable of starting big-time postseason games for them, and that would vault him to the top of the available starting pitchers at this deadline. He's still among the best starters in baseball at creating swings and misses and striking batters out, and he's also been in a league of his own at not walking batters while also not allowing hard contact frequently.

Not only do Gray's odd metrics this year make it hard to quantify what his value does, but so do two other very important factors. First, Gray is still owed the remainder of his $25 million salary for this year, as well as $35 million for 2026. Gray is also on a $30 million mutual option for 2027 with a $5 million buyout. How much Gray can bring back in a trade would very much depend on how much money the Cardinals are willing to eat of that deal.

Second, Gray has expressed a desire to live close to Nashville, but the extent of that desire is unknown. Gray has stated that the Arizona Diamondbacks were a finalist for him when he was a free agent, which is about as far as you can get from Nashville. So not only did Gray already entertain an offer far away from Nashville before, but perhaps two middling seasons in St. Louis will cause him to want to go to a legit contender if he's moved.

We'll continue to monitor Gray's situation along with a variety of other trade candidates whom the Cardinals are reportedly listening to offers on at this year's trade deadline.