Cashman Calls Out Sonny Gray After Red Sox SP Says It'll Be 'Easy to Hate' Yankees

The always-intense rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox should have a little more flare in 2026 with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman calling out Sonny Gray for past comments he made about the Bronx Bombers.

Speaking to reporters at the winter meetings, Cashman revealed insight into the past about Gray's desire to play for the Yankees when the team acquired him in a July 2017 trade with the Oakland Athletics.

"When he was with the A's, he was telling our minor-league video coordinator, 'You got to get me over to the Yankees.' 'Tell Cash, get me over to the Yankees. I want out of Oakland. I want a championship,'" he said.

Cashman then explained that Gray's demeanor changed during his first full season in New York in 2018: "That's when he told me he never wanted to be here. He hates New York. 'This is the worst place.' He just sits in his hotel room."

The comments were in response to Gray telling reporters on Dec. 4 after the Red Sox acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals that he "never wanted" to play for New York and is happy to be with an organization now where it is "easy to hate the Yankees."

Cashman added that Gray said his agent, Bo McKinnis, told him to say he wanted to be traded to the Yankees.

"I said, Well it's a little late now," Cashman said of his response Gray allegedly told him he didn't want to play for the team . "So then I told him, I said, but you said you wanted to be traded here. And he said, 'My agent, Bo McKinnis, told me to do that. He told me to lie. It wouldn't be good for my free agency to say there are certain places that I don't want to go to.'"

In a statement to The Athletic's Brendan Kuty, McKinnis disputed that characterization of what he told Gray:

"So, Brian is trying to make people believe I told Sonny to, in Cashman's words, 'lie' to the minor-league video guy to try to get Sonny to the Yankees—even though, per Cashman, Sonny did not want to be with the Yankees—to subsequently somehow help Sonny's free agency. This makes zero sense. … Further, the words, 'I want out of Oakland,' have never been said by Sonny. He loved his time with the A's."

Gray's tenure with the Yankees certainly didn't go the way anybody hoped. He had a 4.51 ERA in 195.2 innings over 41 appearances and was dropped from the rotation late in the 2018 season.

Since leaving the Yankees, Gray has been a very effective pitcher for three different teams. He has a 3.51 ERA and 1,136 strikeouts over 1,017.1 innings in 184 starts over the past seven seasons.

This battle of words between Cashman and Gray certainly adds an interesting dynamic to the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry going into 2026 with both teams expecting to compete for a playoff spot.

Gray has only pitched in the Bronx once since the Yankees traded him in January 2019. He allowed one earned run and struck out seven in six innings for the Minnesota Twins in a 4-3 win on Sept. 8, 2022.

The Red Sox first trip to Yankee Stadium next season will be a three-game series from June 5-7.