ORLANDO, Fla. — As the Yankees busied themselves at the 2018 Trade Deadline, lining up a trio of veteran arms to bolster a playoff push, Sonny Gray looked around the clubhouse and wondered aloud why he was still there.
Thatâ€s according to general manager Brian Cashman, who revealed the previously unreported conversation Sunday at the Winter Meetings in response to Grayâ€s recent comments upon joining the Red Sox, in which the right-hander said of New York: “I never wanted to go there in the first place.â€
Itâ€s true, Cashman says, but with a caveat — Gray had said the exact opposite while he was with the Athletics.
After the 2018 Deadline passed, Cashman said Gray asked him for a private chat. That took place in the Yankee Stadium office of Chad Bohling, the teamâ€s senior director of organizational performance.
“He said, ‘Hey, can we talk?â€â€ Cashman said. “We closed the door and he said, ‘I thought you were going to trade me. Publicly, I was trying to get pitching and bullpen [help]. Why would I trade a starter when we needed pitching badly?
“Thatâ€s when he told me he never wanted to be here — he hates New York, [that] this is the worst place [and] he just sits in his hotel room. He told me all this stuff and I said: ‘Well, itâ€s a little late now.â€â€
The Yankees acquired Gray from the Athletics in July 2017 in part because they believed he was actively seeking an opportunity in New York.
“When he was with the Aâ€s,†Cashman recalled, “he was telling our Minor League video coordinator, ‘Youâ€ve got to get me over to the Yankees. Tell Cash, get me over to the Yankees. I want out of Oakland. I want to win a world championship.†He was communicating that to a number of different people, and it was getting to us, that he wants to be a Yankee.â€
It was not a good fit. Gray went 15-16 with a 4.81 ERA in 41 games (34 starts) with the Yankees, including a removal from the rotation in August 2018, shortly after Cashman added pitchers Zack Britton, J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn at the Deadline.
During the closed-door conversation, Cashman said he confronted Gray about the discrepancy: “But you said you wanted to be traded here.â€
According to Cashman, Grayâ€s response was: “My agent, Bo McKinnis, told me to do that. He told me to lie. It wouldnâ€t be good for my free agency to say thereâ€s certain places I donâ€t want to go to.â€
“Nothing I can do about it now,†Cashman said he told Gray. “I wish youâ€d told me beforehand. I wish we knew this before we ever tried to acquire you.â€
Gray remained with the Yankees through the 2018 season before being traded to the Reds in January 2019.
The saga resurfaced earlier this month after Gray — following his trade from the Cardinals to Boston — said he was happy to join a franchise where “itâ€s easy to hate the Yankees,†adding that New York “wasnâ€t a great setup for me and my family.â€
“I just wasnâ€t myself,†said Gray, a three-time All-Star who has pitched for the Aâ€s, Yankees, Reds, Twins and Cardinals. “I just didnâ€t feel like I was allowed to go out there and be Sonny.â€
The Yankees†first series against the Red Sox next season is April 21-23 at Fenway Park. Boston visits Yankee Stadium for the first time June 5-7.
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