Garrett

Crochet

He adds that those aren’t the only four teams interested in the 25-year-old left-hander. Crochet’s trade deadline value was up in the air because of workload issues in his return from Tommy John and because of his move from the bullpen to the rotation. Now, though, it’s less complicated; he’s simply a young pitcher with ace ability and two years of control left before free agency. The White Sox are almost surely going to move him and net themselves an outstanding return. They’re focusing on top position prospects now after targeting young pitchers in previous trades and at the top of the draft.

After missing the entire 2022 season and being limited to only 12 2/3 innings at the big league level in 2023 while battling back from injury, Crochet stepped into the White Sox’ rotation in 2024 and performed as one of the top overall pitchers in all of baseball. The 25-year-old left-hander compiled a 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and a 209/33 K/BB ratio across just 146 innings in his 32 starts. A very popular name in off-season trade talks, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Crochet donning a new jersey before the 2025 season begins.

Crochet is the most appealing trade target for any franchise looking to significantly upgrade their starting rotation mix and the White Sox are looking to capitalize with his trade value seemingly at an absolute apex. The 25-year-old southpaw, who has two years left before reaching free agency, finished last year’s breakthrough campaign with a strong 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 209/33 K/BB ratio across 146 innings (32 starts). He’ll command an astronomical prospect haul, but there should be several organizations willing to meet Chicago’s asking price.

It’s no secret that Crochet’s name has come up in a plethora of trade discussions, so Getz is running with it and admitting that he wants young position players in return. It doesn’t sound like he’s in any hurry to make a move though and noted that “the right players have to be there” and that they “can’t force anything”. Where there’s this much smoke, there’s usually fire, so it would be a surprise if the 25-year-old southpaw opened up the season in a White Sox’ jersey.

It’s kind of funny that the White Sox rearranged their rotation to have Crochet face the Tigers tonight and then decided to rest their lone intimidating hitter, Luis Robert Jr. Crochet wound up throwing 62 pitches, his high total since Aug. 9, in the scoreless outing. He ends the year 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA that in no way sums up the quality of his performance. He struck out 209 and walked 33 in 146 innings. In spite of the health concerns, he probably should be viewed as a top-10 pitcher in baseball heading into next year. Whether he’s a top-10 fantasy pitcher or not will hinge on whether he gets traded away from his 121-loss ballclub.

Crochet will try to bring down the Tigers on the road rather than make what might well be his final start with the White Sox in front of the home fans. Chris Flexen is now set to pitch Thursday.

Crochet’s third strikeout was his 200th of the year, and he kept going from there. This would be a strong one for Crochet to finish on, if the White Sox want to go that route. However, while there were hints before the game that this would be his last start, there were no declarations afterwards. At the moment, he’s penciled in to pitch Thursday against the Angels.

The plan right now is for Crochet to start Friday and then make another start in the final week, but Sizemore cautioned that the team wants to see how the 25-year-old is before making that decision. Crochet has some of the best metrics in baseball, and while he has slowed down over the second-half of the year, the long-term potential competes with any starter in the sport.

Crochet has lost all three of his brief starts this month. He simply doesn’t have any chance at a win now with the White Sox restricting his workload, and it’s not like the offense is ever going to bail him out. The defeat tonight leaves Crochet 6-12 with a 3.78 ERA. Three months ago on this day, he was 6-5 with a 3.16 ERA.

Crochet’s start was cut short because of his strict regimen for the rest of the season, but might have been cut short regardless. The 25-year-old needed 51 pitches to get through his two frames, and he gave up four runs in the first before settling down in the second. Crochet’s numbers have imploded in the second half, as he’s now up to 3.83 ERA after carrying a number 3.02 prior to the All-Star break, and it’s fair to say he’s worn down in his first year as a starter. He’ll have another short outing against the Athletics on Friday — assuming he isn’t shut down, of course.