Sonny Gray Is Out And Lance Lynn Is In As Yankees Rework Starting Rotation

The New York Yankees have started making some changes to the roster that involve Sonny Gray being given a lesser role, and possibly on his way out the door, as reported earlier at the Inquisitr. The day began for the Bronx Bombers with Luis Cessa and Luke Voit being called up from AAA for the start of their series with the Red Sox. Cessa rejoining the team means that someone on the active duty roster will be placed on the disabled list, as he was sent down less than 10 days ago. Voit, it is thought, will platoon at first to face the Red Sox southpaw starters. While it was thought Cessa may get Gray’s spot in the starting rotation if he started and impressed, manager Aaron Boone wasn’t willing to wait that long to make a change.

Starting immediately, Sonny Gray will go to the bullpen, as reported by the New York Post, where he will serve as the mop-up man, throwing innings in games that have a lopsided score either way. The newly acquired Lance Lynn will take his place in the rotation. With Gray mopping up, Cessa will likely be off until Saturday when the Yankees see if J.A. Happ will be recovered enough from his case of hand, foot, and mouth disease to pitch. If Happ can go, Cessa will likely be used as a specialist out of the bullpen; if not, he will likely start in Happ’s place.

What this all means for Sonny Gray is that his time as a Yankee is likely over very soon. The level of dissatisfaction with his performance from fans has been well documented, and this demotion to the bullpen shows that management has no confidence in him right now either. After being shelled by the Orioles, who are 42 games out of first place, Lance Lynn relieved Gray in the third inning and threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings while Gray prepared for a press conference explaining a racist tweet found on his Twitter account, which was earlier reported by the Inquisitr.

According to Baseball Reference, Lynn has a career 79-55 record with a 3.53 ERA over seven major league seasons. While not dominating, he uses his arsenal well forcing weak contact outs, with just enough on his breaking ball to go for a strikeout when the situation calls for it. No teams have inquired about Gray since the non-waiver trading deadline lapsed, but the same rumor that has been around for the last month that Gray is headed to a small market team is still swirling around. When asked for a comment, Gray told the New York Post, “I don’t think my days as a starting pitcher in this league are over.”

Sonny Gray is out of the rotation and while we are all happy about this. It really sucks, Sonny was supposed to be a staple in the rotation for a World Series team. Disappointing #NYY #PinstripePride

— Steve Angelovich (@angelsteve89) August 2, 2018