New York — The MLB boardroom was rocked when Yankees GM Brian Cashman publicly claimed that Sonny Gray “blatantly lied” about ever wanting to play for the Yankees. The truth is now out in the open — and it’s shaking fans’ faith in the former pitcher’s words.
When asked at the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings, Cashman revealed that Gray had expressed interest in joining the Yankees — on the advice of his agent — but after it was all over, he admitted: “I didn’t want to go to New York at all.”
Cashman said Gray approached him in late 2018 and confessed:
“I never wanted to be here. I hated this place. This city, this pressure — none of it was for me.”
At that point, the Yankees — feeling betrayed — decided to “deal with it once and for all”: trade Gray to the Cincinnati Reds.
The dramatic reversal came after Gray — now a Boston Red Sox player — said at an introductory meeting:
“I never wanted to come to New York in the first place. Flying to Boston was like taking off the shackles.”
Cashman immediately responded:
“He said it himself: he wanted to go to the Yankees — to keep his free-agent value. Once the contract was signed, everything exploded.”
It wasn’t just an internal conflict — it was a “public unmasking” between a prestigious organization like the Yankees and a famous player.
For Gray: his words are being questioned — from “professional player” to “self-interested.”
For the Yankees: the incident is a warning — that even stars can become a liability if they don’t really want to stick around.
For fans: trust is shaken — who says what, when are they sincere, when is it just a PR stunt?
One scathing commentator noted: “The Yankees were wrong not to ‘keep their guard up’ when they brought Gray in. But Gray is the one who really sold his dignity to keep his market value.”
This isn’t just a personal drama — it raises big questions for every team:
Do the words spoken during negotiations really reflect the player’s wishes?
Should the “psychological adaptation” criterion be reconsidered when signing a contract?
And do such “illusory” deals devalue the trust of fans?
For the Yankees — perhaps they have learned a valuable lesson: behind half a promise, there is most likely a decision drawn by the agent, not the heart.
With Cashman’s latest statement, Gray is not simply “rejecting” the past — he is exposed, exposed. In the harsh world of MLB, where every word carries monetary, prestige and emotional value, honesty is clearly not an easy commodity to buy. And for Yankees fans — this is not the end of the play, but just a stormy chapter.
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