Cardinals turn to free agent Sonny Gray to lead starting rotation

The St. Louis Cardinals and free-agent right-hander Sonny Gray are in agreement on a three-year deal worth $75 million US.

Gray, 34, is coming off an 8-8 season with the Minnesota Twins, a campaign in which he made his third all-star team while toting a 2.79 earned-run average. He finished second in American League Cy Young voting for top pitcher.

Gray joins a Cardinals starting rotation that also includes free agent signees Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson.

He is 98-85 with a 3.47 ERA in 279 career games (270 starts) with four teams, including the Oakland Athletics from 2013-17. The A's selected Gray No. 18 overall in the 2011 draft.

Gray opted to play at Vanderbilt after being selected in the 27th round of the 2008 draft by the Chicago Cubs.

For the past two seasons with the Twins, he compiled a 16-13 mark and 2.90 ERA.

Gray made the all-star team in 2019 with Cincinnati and 2015 with the A's.

At 34, Heyward hit above career average

The Dodgers are close to re-signing outfielder Jason Heyward to a one-year deal, according to ESPN.

The 34-year-old free agent batted .269 in 124 games with Los Angeles this past season adding 15 homers and 40 runs batted in.

He is a career .258 hitter with 174 homers and 681 RBI in 1,703 regular-season games with Atlanta (2010-14), St. Louis Cardinals (2015), Chicago Cubs (2016-22) and Dodgers.

Heyward is a five-time Gold Glove winner and made the National League all-star team in 2010. He won a World Series with the Cubs in 2016.

He played last season on a one-year, $720,000 contract.

Guardians manager Vogt finalizes staff

Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt has rounded out his staff, retaining Sandy Alomar Jr. and Carl Willis — two long-tenured coaches under former manager Terry Francona.

Vogt was hired earlier this month by Cleveland despite not having any managerial experience. He'll have continuity in Alomar, who will coach first base and the catchers, along with Willis, who has had a major impact in the Guardians developing one of baseball's best pitching staffs.

A six-time all-star catcher with Cleveland, the popular Alomar has been on the team's staff for 15 seasons, and Willis 14. They were instrumental in helping Francona, who stepped away after leading the Guardians to the playoffs six times in 11 seasons.

Vogt also named Craig Albernaz his bench coach, replacing DeMarlo Hale, who was recently named Toronto's associate manager.

It's a quick change for Albernaz, San Francisco's bullpen coach last season who was named a major league field co-ordinator for Cleveland a few weeks back.

Kai Correa, who spent the past four seasons as San Francisco's bench coach, will be Cleveland's field coordinator. The 35-year-old was the Giants' interim manager for the final three games this season.

Also, Chris Valaika is returning for his third season as Cleveland's hitting coach.