Brian Cashman responds to Sonny Gray

In his first public appearance in a Boston Red Sox uniform, the organization's new pitcher made friends with the team's fans by lashing out at the New York Yankees.

I never wanted to go [to New York] in the first place. It's nice to go to a place [Boston] where it's easy to hate the Yankees.

And now the backlash came last night (Sunday) from Bombardiers general manager Brian Cashman, who said Gray had lied behind the scenes about wanting to play for the team before the club acquired him in 2017, leading to a failed marriage.

Sonny Gray's agent, Bo McKinnis, says it makes “zero sense” to believe that Gray was lying to people about wanting to play for the Yankees to help his free agency, and that he was telling Gray to do it – refuting Cashman's claims

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– Brendan Kuty (@BrendanKutyNJ) December 8, 2025

Indeed, speaking to reporters at the winter meetings, Cashman claimed that Gray, then pitching for the Oakland Athletics, was telling anyone who would listen at the time that he wanted to play for the Yankees, and that Gray later admitted he was lying all along.

When he was with the A's, he'd say to our minor league video coordinator, ‘You've got to get me to the Yankees. Tell Cash to bring me to the Yankees. I want out of Oakland. I want a championship.' He was communicating this to several different people.

Cashman noted that Gray eventually told him he didn't want to be a member of the Yankees.

It was 2018 when he told me he never wanted to be here. He hated New York. It was the worst place for him. He would just sit in his hotel room.

That's all it took for Gray's agent, Bo McKinnis, to break out the mothballs.

Brian is trying to make people believe that I told Sonny to lie to the minor league video guy to try to send Sonny to the Yankees to help his cause on the free agent market next. It just doesn't make sense. Furthermore, the words “I want out of Oakland” were never uttered by Sonny. He loved his time with the A's.

Let's just say this will add another layer to the rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Can't wait for the 2026 season.

This content was created with the help of AI.