Red Sox trade for Sonny Gray may have completely upended Astros' offseason plans

Baseball fans were surprised on Tuesday with the news that the Cardinals dealt Sonny Gray to the Red Sox. Boston was a bit of an odd fit, especially given that most thought they were shopping in a higher tier of the trade market, and the Cardinals took on a pair of intriguing arms while getting a bit of salary relief. However, for the Houston Astros, it may have created a wrinkle in their offseason plans that is hard to nail down.

On the surface, Gray was a fringe Astros trade target to address their starting pitch depth issue. Gray is certainly a quality arm, but he is owed a lot of money in 2026, and Houston's payroll is already pretty tight at the moment. Still, Gray being off the market does at least tangentially impact their rotation search.

However, where the Gray may be more relevant is when it comes to their pursuit of Brendan Donovan and how it could impact his market and asking price.

Astros may have to reckon with downstream effects of Sonny Gray trade when it comes to Brendan Donovan

It is not a secret whatsoever that Houston is interested in trading for Donovan to help address their infield issues. They need flexible help at second base after trading Mauricio Dubon, and Donovan fits the bill. Where things get tricky now is what the Gray trade could mean for Donovan and St. Louis' willingness to move him.

The Cardinals under Chaim Bloom definitely want to cut payroll (hence the Gray trade), but they probably don't want to engage in a total teardown if they can help it. Trading Donovan might be the next domino to fall, which means that the Astros will want to act fast to get in on his market. However, the Cardinals also got a pretty nice haul for Gray, which might increase their asking price in a trade for Donovan and/or lessen their urgency to move him now that they got some payroll relief.

If this were a fire sale situation (and perhaps it turns into one), the Astros' path would look clear to make a real push for Donovan and then sort out the details of their own roster afterwards. However, St. Louis is one of those teams that will never admit going into a full rebuild and wants to put a reasonably competitive team on the field every year, or at least try. With a big chunk of Gray's money off their books now, that could make the Astros' goals that much tougher to achieve.