The Chicago White Sox had arguably the biggest trade chip of any team going into the most recent trade deadline on July 30. Garrett Crochet stayed put instead, a mere two weeks after his appearance in the All-Star Game, and limped to the finish line of a historically bad 121-loss season with the rest of his teammates.
No team had ever lost more than 120 games in MLB's modern era.
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The White Sox are in no better position to contend in 2025 now as they were then. For that reason, it was always reasonable to assume that Crochet would be back on the trading block at some point. He finished the regular season with a 3.58 ERA in 32 starts, and an outstanding 209 strikeouts in 146 innings.
In his first full season as a starting pitcher at the major league level, Crochet finished among the Top 5 in the American League in strikeouts, games started, and finished eighth in Baseball Reference's version of Wins Above Replacement for pitchers. Crochet's 2.69 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) was third in MLB among all pitchers who threw at least 140 innings in 2024.
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Crochet also won the AL Pitcher of the Month award in June. Yet he finished only 6-12 with the White Sox. General manager Chris Getz is apparently unwilling to let Crochet wither on the vine of his rebuilding team much longer.
"They're going to trade him this winter," a rival evaluator in attendance at last week's general manager meetings told ESPN's Buster Olney. "It's not a matter of if; it's a question of when."
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The offseason and the trade deadline are historically when rebuilding teams can get the most return value in a trade. After Crochet finished last season on the White Sox roster, there was an open question of whether Getz would carry Crochet into the 2025 season and try to recoup more value closer to the 2025 deadline.
News that the White Sox are trading Crochet sooner rather than later should be welcomed by fans who would love to picture a front-line starter at the top of their favorite team's rotation — as well as executives who are unwilling or unable to meet the price of the top free agent starters on this year's market.
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Roki Sasaki recently announced he was leaving NPB to pursue an MLB career despite being limited to a salary allowable within each team's international bonus spending pool — about $5.6 million if his posting window closes before Jan. 15.
Other than Sasaki, small-market teams will be all but shut of the top-end starting pitcher market, a group that this year includes former Cy Young Award winners Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell, among others.
That makes Crochet an attractive pitcher to the majority of MLB teams. It seems they won't have to wait long to consummate a trade.
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