Weekend Reflections: Braves covet Sonny Gray, but will surging Red Sox sell?

The Red Sox seemed to be hopelessly out of the playoff race two weeks ago. But they’ve won nine games in a row and 15 of their past 18 to enter the All-Star break only half a game out of the final AL wild-card spot.

This is not a good development for the Braves, because they’ve reportedly got their eye on Red Sox right-hander Sonny Gray. According to the Athletic, the Braves are “one of several” teams interested in acquiring him.

That interest will go unrequited if the Red Sox decide not to sell before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Giving up doesn’t go down easily in a market like Boston. The Red Sox could try to spin trading Gray as acquiring young talent for a 36-year-old pitcher with an expiring contract. But it’s risky to upset fans who now have hope.

It’s easy to see why the Braves are interested in Gray. He would be a huge boost for their beleaguered rotation. Gray is on pace for a career-best season of run prevention (2.54 ERA in 17 starts). With the Braves, he’d be the No. 2 starter, behind Chris Sale.

Trading for Gray would be the kind of low financial risk deal favored by Braves president Alex Anthopoulos. Per Spotrac, the Cardinals are paying $20 million of Gray’s $31 million salary as part of the deal to trade him last November. If the Braves acquired Gray and took on his entire salary, they’d be on the hook for the prorated portion of $11 million.

Gray’s contract includes a $30 million mutual option, but he’s likely to decline it and forfeit the $5 million buyout. If Anthopoulos acquires Gray, he could then try to sign him to an extension. That’s what he did after trading for Sale, another older pitcher with a strong track record.

The Red Sox face three tough series in a row at Fenway Park after the All-Star break. They’ll play AL East-leader Tampa Bay and two teams within striking distance of a wild card: Baltimore and Toronto. It would be good for the Braves if the Red Sox stumble out of the break.

Kirby Smart among ‘most hated’ college football coaches

RotoWire released a list of the nation’s 20 most hated college football coaches. Its methodology includes a measure of fan sentiment on social media (highly questionable) and a 500-person survey (better).

RotoWire smartly excluded fan hatred of their own teams because otherwise it would just be a list of coaches not meeting high expectations. Not counting them makes it a list of coaches who are successful, perceived as villains or some combination of those two factors.

Georgia’s Kirby Smart is No. 6 on the list. My guess is that’s mostly because of success. That’s not to say Smart’s public persona can’t be annoying.

I roll my eyes at Smart’s diatribes about Georgia doing things the right way in the NIL era, while programs supposedly doing it the wrong way are winning more playoff games lately (one of them, Ole Miss, ended UGA’s 2025 season). Smart’s stance on spending in college sports is hypocritical, though the same can be said for nearly all his peers.

But fans of other teams probably dislike Smart mostly because the Bulldogs win a lot. RotoWire surmises they also don’t like the way Georgia does it: “The machine he built in Athens is efficient, humorless and extremely easy to root against.”

It’s no surprise LSU coach Lane Kiffin tops RotoWire’s list. Kiffin relishes playing the heel role and angered fanbases at Tennessee and Ole Miss with the manner in which he left those jobs. The top five of the most hated list is rounded out by Deion Sanders (Colorado), Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Lincoln Riley (Southern Cal) and Ryan Day (Ohio State).

Braves load up on position players again in MLB draft

The Braves drafted 19 players within the first four rounds of drafts from 2020 to 2024. All but three were pitchers.

That made sense. You can never have enough pitching, and the Braves had multiple young position players signed to long-term contracts.

The circumstances have changed in recent years.

Outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. (2028) and second baseman Ozzie Albies (2027) are getting closer to the end of team contractual control. The Braves never filled the hole at shortstop left by Dansby Swanson’s departure.