All eyes are on Juan Soto and where he’ll sign, and rightfully so, but the trade market is important for MLB fans to keep tabs on, too. On that front, perhaps no bigger name is expected to get dealt than Garrett Crochet.
Not much went right for the 41-121 Chicago White Sox this past season, obviously, but Garrett Crochet’s emergence was a nice surprise. The southpaw was an All-Star and pitched like a Cy Young candidate in the first half of the year before Chicago toned down his usage down the stretch to ensure that he’d stay healthy. Crochet had a 3.48 ERA in 32 starts and 146 innings of work, showing off some elite command (5.6 percent walk rate) and electric strikeout stuff (35.1 percent strikeout rate).
With the White Sox going nowhere anytime soon, they’re looking to maximize their potential return on Crochet. They held back from trading him at the 2024 trade deadline, but with more teams expected to join the sweepstakes this offseason, it’d be surprising if he wasn’t traded.
Given the fact that he’s 25 years old, elite, and is under club control through the 2026 campaign, the White Sox will get a ton in return for Crochet if, indeed, Chris Getz does deal him. The only questions are where will he go and what would the White Sox want in return.
The latest report from Bruce Levine of 670 The Score should give Boston Red Sox fans hope that their team has as good of a shot as any to acquire him.
Rumors on teams being the favorite for obtaining Wh Sox pitcher Garett Crochet are just that. There is no sourcing coming from Chris Getz or front office. With rebuild ,players need to have long contract control coming back in any deal. Position players are priority .
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) November 8, 2024
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What’s interesting about Levine’s report specifically is that he believes that the White Sox are looking for position players with a lot of team control. No team has more position players to dangle than the Red Sox.
Each of Boston’s top eight prospects according to MLB Pipeline are position players. Four of their top prospects – Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, and Kyle Teel – are all considered top 25 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. They have a slew of appealing position player prospects for the White Sox to consider.
Even if the Red Sox don’t want to part with those prospects, a young MLB player with a lot of team control like Wilyer Abreu might be available in the right deal. Again, it’s hard to believe any team can match the depth Boston has position player-wise.
It’d take a lot for the Red Sox to pull off a Crochet deal, but if there’s one thing this team desperately needs, it’s an ace. Their lineup is very solid, but their rotation needs a lot of work. Adding Crochet to lead the way, with Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, and Kutter Crawford following makes this rotation look so much better.
Whether Craig Breslow would actually be willing to part with what it’d take to land Crochet remains to be seen, but in terms of having the assets, few teams, if any, are better set up to make this happen than the Red Sox.
