Ranking Garrett Crochet's three best trade destinations
One of the biggest storylines of the Major League Baseball offseason will be what the Chicago White Sox do with their ace, Garrett Crochet. After an incredible 2024 season, almost every team in baseball would love to have the opportunity to trade for a player like Crochet .
Crochet was the subject of countless trade rumors during the season, but ended up staying with the White Sox after his market died down a bit following his comments about not pitching in the postseason unless he signed an extension with whichever team traded for him.
However, now that the season is finished, Crochet's market has heated back up. After an All-Star season in which the 25-year-old lefty recorded a 3.58 ERA and had a stunning 12.9 SO/9, teams are once again ready to try and acquire the White Sox star.
Crochet is almost guaranteed to be dealt this offseason according to Buster Olney of ESPN.
"They're going to trade him this winter," a rival executive who was at the general manager meetings last week said to Olney "It's not a matter of if; it's a question of when."
Here are the three teams most likely to put together a blockbuster deal for Crochet this offseason:
The Philadelphia Phillies have an aging roster and one of the most trigger-happy executives in the sport with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. That is a recipe for a blockbuster trade for someone like Crochet. Not only does Dombrowski have a history of mortgaging prospects for elite Major League talent, but when he was with the Red Sox, he was the architect of the trade that sent Chris Sale from the White Sox to Boston.
A potential Crochet-Phillies deal could mirror the deal he made with the Red Sox for Sale. The likely headliner of this trade for the Phillies would be top pitching prospect Andrew Painter . The White Sox are not going to be competitive any time soon. The 21-year-old Painter's timeline would align perfectly with a potential White Sox rebuild. If the Phillies are willing to offer Painter, along with a few other mid-level prospects, that should be enough to form a competitive offer.
Crochet would give the Phillies the best rotation in baseball and immediately make them legitimate World Series contenders, if not World Series favorites. He would join Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez to form a truly formidable five-man group that.
The New York Mets have been linked to almost every single free agent this offseason due to their perceived unlimited budget thanks to owner Steve Cohen. However, the Mets also have the prospect capital to put together a very competitive offer for a player like Crochet .
The Mets would also be motivated to acquire a starting pitcher due to the free agent status of Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana, who were all key members of their rotation during the 2024 season. As things currently stand, the only starting pitchers on the Mets roster are David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Kodai Senga. Adding Crochet to that mix, along with either one either Severino, Manaea, Quintana or one of the top free agent starters like Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell or Max Fried would give the Mets a bonafide championship-caliber rotation.
Especially if the Mets are able to sign some of the top free agents like Juan Soto, Pete Alonso or Corbin Burnes to fully assert themselves as World Series contenders, it would make a lot of sense for them to deal some of their younger prospects to help their current roster win now. A potential deal would likely include players like Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert, the No. 2 and No. 3 players in the Mets system respectively according to MLB Pipeline, along with Luisangel Acuna, who was a late season call-up for the Mets and impressed in September and in the postseason.
The Boston Red Sox have the best combination of tradable assets and need for starting pitching to make them the favorites to strike a deal with the White Sox for Crochet. While their rotation was solid last season, none of their projected starters in 2025, like Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford or Brayan Bello look like true No. 1 options. While free agency is still an option for them to improve their rotation, the Red Sox have a deep enough farm system for a Crochet trade to make a lot of sense.
Wilyer Abreu, who had an excellent rookie season for the Red Sox in 2024, hitting 15 home runs and winning a Gold Glove in right field , would likely be one of the first players the Red Sox offer to the White Sox in a potential Crochet deal. Despite Abreu's potential, the Red Sox already have Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Rob Refsnyder and Masataka Yoshina on the Major League roster, along with free agent Tyler O'Neill who the could elect to bring back, for the outfield. Looking ahead, the Red Sox also have top outfield prospects Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell who could push for a promotion in 2025.
If the Red Sox offer the White Sox a deal centered around the 25-year-old Abreu, one a few other high-level prospects, they should be able to get a deal done. If the Red Sox want to guarantee Crochet makes his way to Boston, then they can even include a combination of Abreu and one of their top-four prospects, Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kyle Teel and Campbell.
