Even with steep price and injuries, Sonny Gray has been worth it for Twins

In mid-March, The Twins traded 2021 first round pick Chase Petty — who just turned 19 and is holding his own at Class A this season — to the Reds for starter Sonny Gray.

Gray, 32, was a workhorse for Oakland early in his career before injuries added a label to his performance: "when healthy." After twice topping 200 innings with the A's, Gray averaged 144 innings in the five full seasons (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 year) from 2016-2021.

By modern standards, that's still not bad. But it does demand production in those 25 starts per season that Gray does make.

His Twins career so far has followed that trajectory, as I talked about on Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast.

Gray pitched just 6.1 innings in April before missing three weeks with an injury. He returned for a very good May, giving up just five runs in five starts before again missing another two-plus weeks with an injury.

Then on Wednesday, he returned for a sneakily important game against Seattle. The Twins had been shutout the previous game and were at risk of losing a series to a bad Mariners team. Gray delivered five shutout innings and the Twins found some late offense in a 5-0 win.

That's eight starts for Gray spanning just 38.2 innings. He'll make close to $11 million this season, and he was acquired for a top pitching prospect.

The Twins have won each of Gray's last six starts. Four of those six wins came after the Twins lost the previous game, including Wednesday.

That's the definition of a stopper, even if Gray is a stopper who hasn't always been available.

Think of it another way: While the Twins pieced things together in the absence of Gray, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober in recent weeks, imagine their rotation long-term without Gray.

Ryan was the Opening Day starter, but Gray almost certainly would get the ball in the first game of any playoff series — and give the Twins a chance to win as much any other pitcher since, probably, Johan Santana.

If he can stay healthy for most of the rest of this season, the Twins should consider whether Gray has a future here even beyond his $12 million 2023 team option.