While it's still early in the 2024-25 offseason, the Boston Red Sox are already a popular choice around the industry to be super active this winter.
The club has needs all over the pitching staff and the power-hitting department, so there's no reason for the front office to sit on its hands in the coming months.
One name that has been mentioned repeatedly in Red Sox circles is White Sox starter Garrett Crochet. The young left-hander was Chicago's top trade chip at this year's deadline, but he and his agent shot themselves in the foot by saying that Crochet wouldn't pitch in the playoffs for any team that acquired him unless they locked him up to an extension.
Naturally, nobody stepped up and Crochet remained on what ended up being the worst team in MLB history.
Now that the regular season has passed, the trade buzz has intensified once more and this time around, the Red Sox are being tied to him left and right. First, it was Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam of MassLive predicting he'd be brought in; then it was ESPN's Buster Olney on the Baseball Tonight podcast saying that it's a "slam dunk" Crochet is traded, with the Red Sox being one of the teams he's got his eye on in the sweepstakes.
Red Sox repeatedly tied to Garrett Crochet in growing trade buzz
Crochet would be huge for the Red Sox's rotation, as he'd be the young and controllable ace of the staff immediately. The 25-year-old just wrapped up his first season in the big leagues as a starting pitcher, and it went about as well as anyone could've hoped. In 32 starts, he went 6-12 (remember...White Sox) with a 3.58 ERA and 115 ERA+, along with a sparkling 2.69 FIP.
Recent reports have fueled the fire that the Red Sox are the best trade partner for Chicago. Jon Morosi of MLB Network stated that the White Sox hope to improve their pool of position player talent, and Boston has an excess of position players in its farm system, including six in MLB Pipeline's top 100.
Crochet was Chicago's Opening Day starter and he also made the first All-Star Game of his young career. Previously, he had been used as a shutdown reliever on the White Sox, but he expressed an interest in returning to the rotation and it worked out perfectly. Crochet's high velocity fastball and deadly breaking stuff will play well out of the 'pen or rotation, but he's clearly got what it takes to be a starter for the long run.
Garrett Crochet, K'ing the Side with Filth. 😷 pic.twitter.com/ajK4cMmx9L
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 21, 2024
Of course, that doesn't mean he comes with zero risk. Keep in mind, 2024 was his first season as a starter and there were some signs of wear and tear as the year went on. Limited to strictly four-inning starts in the second half, Crochet wound up sporting a 5.12 ERA through 12 second-half starts. His stuff suddenly became much more hittable than it previously had been, so it's worth wondering if he began to feel the weight of his workload as he got up there in innings.
Then there's also the fact that he's already had a Tommy John surgery. The White Sox played an extremely dangerous game by welcoming him back from this long-term injury with just 12.2 relief innings before tossing him in the starting rotation the next season.
It's hard to tell how Crochet will hold up as the years go by, but it's hard to ignore just how dominant he was for the vast majority of the 2024 season. Per Baseball Savant, he finished in the 90th percentile or higher in xERA, Fastball Velo, Fastball Run Value, Chase %, Whiff %, K % and Extension.
When he's on, Crochet is lethal. The Red Sox have the means of swinging a trade for him and then locking him up to an extension that'd keep him atop their rotation for many years to come. If all the buzz results in a move at some point this winter, it'll be hard to ignore them come next season.