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White Sox reportedly view this Red Sox player as ‘headlining’ Garrett Crochet trade
"It's not like the Red Sox are trying to unload him."
It should come as little surprise that the Red Sox are one of the teams rumored to be interested in White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet.
Boston is in desperate need of top-of-the-rotation pitching this offseason, and a 25-year-old lefty like Crochet fits that bill as an top talent with a high ceiling and a filthy assortment of pitches at his disposal.
Crochet impressed in his first full season as a starter with Chicago, posting a 3.58 ERA over 32 appearances. He racked up 209 strikeouts over 146 innings of work (an impressive 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings) while only walking 33.
Even with his lack of an established track record, Crochet’s age and swing-and-miss stuff could make him the most coveted trade chip on the market this winter. As such, the Red Sox would likely need to give up a few top talents of their own in order to pry him out of Chicago.
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But could Boston somehow manage to pull off a trade for Crochet without relinquishing one of their “big four” prospects in Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, or Kyle Teel?
According to MassLive’s Sean McAdam, the White Sox aren’t looking at minor leaguers as the primary return for Crochet.
“I would say [Wilyer] Abreu could be made available in the right deal for a frontline starter like Crochet,” McAdam said Wednesday during an appearance on “Foul Territory.” “In fact, I was told that the White Sox have interest in Abreu and would be satisfied with him headlining — obviously, not being the only guy in the deal.
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“They’d have to put in much more than that, including a pretty good prospect to go with him, but Abreu is someone on the White Sox’ radar.”
Abreu was one of the top performers for the 2024 Red Sox in his first full season in the big leagues. The 25-year-old right fielder batted .253 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI over 132 games last season. Beyond his steady production at the plate, Abreu became the first Red Sox rookie to win a Gold Glove since 1975 after leading all A.L. right fielders in defensive runs saved.
“It’s not like the Red Sox are trying to unload him. But again, they’ve got some redundancy here where they could move Abreu and make room and have an outfield that included (Jarren) Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, maybe Kristian Campbell who’s played the outfield, and certainly Roman Anthony,” McAdam said of Abreu.
“So they’re in a position where they’ve stockpiled all this inventory of intriguing young guys, whether they be top Baseball America prospects or guys with very little service time who would be attractive to a team like the White Sox in the middle of a rebuild.”
As McAdam noted, the Red Sox would still need to include more in a package to acquire a pitcher like Crochet. But if Abreu is the “headliner,” Chicago might also be keeping tabs on some of Boston’s other promising prospects like Braden Montgomery, Franklin Arias, Miguel Bleis, or Yoeilin Cespedes.
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Boston would have to give up several assets to bring in a starter like Crochet. But keeping the “Big Four” in place — along with several impact players on the big-league roster like Triston Casas and Jarren Duran — would be a sizable win for Boston if they are able to reel in Crochet.
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