Katie Woo

Well, we had a feeling he was going to go quickly.

That's something that he has decided.

Actually, it was almost nearly two years to the day that he signed with the Cardinals.

Some guys just like to take care of their off-season problems early.

I was under the impression that he was going to stay somewhere closer to his home in Nashville.

We were looking at teams like Atlanta, Cincinnati, the team that he almost signed with before going to the Cardinals.

Again, full no trade clause, so the player has some say here.

So when we had some inkling that the trade was going through and we figured out that it was Boston, I was a little bit surprised just because Boston isn't all that close to Nashville.

But I think it makes sense, obviously, the connection with Hyman, that organization.

If you're going to make a big trade, you might as well make it with an organization that you know well.

And Sonny's desire to win, that made sense to me.

I know there was a lot of a narrative with him in the AL East.

His time in the Yankees did not go well.

I wouldn't necessarily say he cannot handle a big market, though most of his career, when you think about his teams, Oakland, Minnesota, St.

outside of the Yankees, have been small to mid-market.

So that was interesting to me.

From the Red Sox perspective, I think I've seen a lot of discourse about whether Sonny Gray is a number two or a number three.

I think that's totally fair to debate.

Perspective, the Cardinals had him as a number one, which I think says a lot about the state of their rotation.

But when you're looking at what Sonny Gray can bring to Boston, I thought he made a lot of sense.