No Gray area on this matter.
Forget 2018. The Yankees are going for it this season, too.
After strengthening their bullpen less than two weeks ago by adding David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle and bolstering the back end of their rotation by trading for Jaime Garcia on Sunday, the Yankees completed a deal weeks in the making with the A's on Monday, acquiring right-hander Sonny Gray for the front end of the rotation.
GM Brian Cashman was not forced to surrender top young players such as Gleyber Torres or Clint Frazier, but the deal was far from pain-free. The Yankees parted with the highly regarded Jorge Mateo, Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian. Mateo and Fowler are outfielders, and Kaprielian, a right-hander, was the Yankees' No. 1 pick (16th overall) in the 2015 draft. The latter two are out for the season with injuries. Fowler ruptured his right patellar tendon when he ran into a wall in foul territory in the first inning of his major-league debut a month ago and Kaprielian underwent Tommy John surgery on April 18.
"A lot of risk for Oakland," one opposing team executive said. "But it makes sense for both sides."
What are the Yankees getting?
What they believe is another sure thing for the rotation, something missing most of this season beyond Luis Severino, who has emerged as the Yankees' ace.
The 27-year-old Gray, while not considered an ace, is a solid No. 3 starter, or even a 2 in some evaluator's eyes. He is 44-36 with a 3.42 ERA in his five-year career, including 6-5 with a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts this season.
Just as important, and perhaps more so, Gray is under control through the 2019 season, which is why the price the A's demanded was so significant.
Gray has experienced trouble against the AL East. He's 1-2 with a 4.55 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees; 1-2, 5.16 in four starts against the Red Sox, and 1-3, 5.57 in four starts vs. the Orioles. He has been better against the Rays (3-2, 3.93) and Blue Jays (3-2, 2.54).
He's also had injuries the last two seasons, most notably a right forearm strain that cost him two months in 2016 and a lat strain that sidelined him in April this season.
Still, after Jose Quintana went to the Cubs earlier in the month _ the left-hander was the Yankees' top target _ Gray was the best of the starters available via trade.
Ever since the Yankees restocked their farm system last trade deadline by dealing Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran, 2018 emerged as the target season for contention. But a combination of factors changed the mindset for this season.
Primarily, the Yankees got off to a 38-23 start, a burst that allowed them to survive a recent stretch in which they lost 22 of 32 games. Just as significant, the Red Sox, whom Cashman famously called the "Golden State Warriors" of the sport after they brought in Chris Sale last offseason, never seized control of the division as expected.
"I'm completely shocked," Fowler said of the trade. "I didn't have a clue [it was coming]."
Fowler said he found out from Cashman a short time before the trade went public.
The Yankees came out of the weekend a half-game ahead of Boston in the AL East and just one game behind Cleveland for the second-best record in the AL (the 68-36 Astros, of course, are running away with the West).
"It's right there for us," one club official said last week as the Yankees came off a 6-5 trip to start the season's second half. "Right there to be had."
On Monday, the trade for Gray showed how serious they are this season.
