Sonny Gray's Dominance Shows Exactly What Cardinals Are Missing

The Cardinals acquired pitchers Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts in the deal involving Gray. Both pitchers have dealt with injuries this season.

On Sunday, Gray punched out nine batters and allowed just one hit in 7 1/3 scoreless innings against the Yankees. His final strikeout was the 2,000th of his career. The Cardinals rotation has not been great this year.

They have a 4.19 ERA as a group, which is the fifth-worst mark in the National League. Without Gray, they do not have an ace. Meanwhile, the 36-yeaer-old right-hander is 9-1 with a 2.69 ERA in his 15 starts with the Red Sox.

While the Cardinals are rebuilding, they could be much better if they had somebody like Gray at the top of their rotation. Trading him wasn't necessarily a bad decision, because they desperately needed to rebuild, but even the efforts of Dustin May, Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy aren't quite enough to keep the team in contention for the rest of this season.

Gray also brings a lot of swing and miss to the table, and the Cardinals are a staff that largely pitches to contact, which isn't exactly a recipe for success in the modern game. If the Red Sox sell at the trade deadline, it will be interesting to see if the Cardinals potentially try to trade for him and bring him back, because they could use an ace in their rotation for the remainder of the season.

Without Gray, they just don't have that piece to lead the way, so that is something that they are certainly missing right now. Gray could help the Red Sox turn their season around, but the Cardinals could use that steady presence in their rotation.