The St. Louis Cardinals traded away three-time All-Star Sonny Gray on Tuesday afternoon, sending him to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Richard Fitts and pitching prospect Brandon Clarke.

Fitts has already been in the big leagues, appearing in parts of two seasons, though he ended the 2025 campaign on the injured list with right arm neuritis. 

The trade of Gray leaves a gaping hole in the rotation for the rebuilding Cardinals, who now figure to move on from Nolan Arenado and potentially JoJo Romero, Alec Burleson, Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar. In addition to Gray's exit, veteran Miles Mikolas is now a free agent, leaving two holes to hill.

How does the rotation line up right now?

According to pitching insider Nick Pollack on social media:

Current Cardinals rotation (without Gray/Fitts/Clarke):

Matthew Liberatore

Andre Pallante

Michael McGreevy

Your Uncle's Barber

Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke could both be in the Cardinals' rotation by June 1st, if not sooner.

As long as he's healthy, Fitts should be in the team's Opening Day rotation. Clarke is now ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the organization, per MLB Pipeline. Contrary to Pollack's assessment, he isn't projected to be MLB-ready until 2028. Either way, the group has real question marks.

Who is the option for the fifth spot?

Presuming Fitts is healthy enough to pitch in the Opening Day rotation, the fifth spot could be won by left-hander Quinn Matthews.

A fourth-round pick of the Cardinals in 2023, he went 4-7 this season in 24 minor league starts this season, with 22 of them coming at Triple-A. He struck out 115 batters in 99.0 innings and may not be ready for a full workload this year, but he certainly could crack the Opening Day rotation.

Beyond him, Chaim Bloom could look to acquire someone in the Rule-5 Draft, similar to how the Chicago White Sox uncovered All-Star Shane Smith in 2025. Bloom himself brought in Garrett Whitlock with the Red Sox in 2021, though he utilized him as a reliever in that year. Whitlock has been exceptional for Boston when healthy, mostly in a relief role.

If the Cardinals want to go the free agent route, expect them to look for someone inexpensive that can be had on a one-year deal. Players that fit that mold might be Alex Cobb, Jon Gray, Tomoyuki Sugano, Patrick Corbin, Austin Gomber, Martin Perez or Alek Manoah.

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