The Padres are showing a lot of interest in lefties Garrett Crochet of the White Sox, according to a report from Dennis Lin and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The report warns that no deal is imminent but also says the Friars have been the most aggressive club in their pursuit of Crochet.
Significant trades are rare this time of year, and the trade deadline is nearly two months away. However, there are reasons why it is not so far away for these two clubs. The two sides have already been lined up for a remarkable deal at an unusual time not long ago, when the Sox posted Dylan Cease at the Padres in mid-March, just as the season was about to start. Each club has made a notable trade since then, sending the Sox Robbie Grossman to the Rangers in early May and the Padres getting Luis Arráez from the Marlins at the same time.
For the Sox, they've been rebuilding aggressively for a year now, trading almost any player around in free agency. For the Padres, it is part of their usual modus operandi, as the president of baseball AJ Preller seems to have a strong desire to explore all possible ways to improve the club even if those criminals fall outside the normal operating procedure.
But there are also reasons why a deal might not be done. Crochet is in a very unique situation, which makes him less specific than other players the Sox have traded. He is still very young, only 24 years old, turning 25 later this month. He is still under club control for two more years after this one and is only making $800K this year. That's a reflection of both his rapid ascension to the majors and his injury problems, as he was in the big leagues in his age-21 season but missed significant time and couldn't increase his salary.
The Sox put Crochet in the bullpen when they first called him up, an understandable move at the time given his youth and lack of experience. But then he required Tommy John surgery in April of 2022, which kept him from riding at all in 2022 and limited him to just one appearance last year.
His time on the injured list allowed him to hit the ground running in the offseason, but the extended absence meant he only pushed his salary above the league minimum of $740K. Despite his limited innings, the Sox decided to extend him this year and the results have been great. Crochet has thrown 69 2/3 innings in his 13 innings this year, allowing 3.49 earned runs per nine innings. He struck out 33.7% of batters he faced, limited walks to a 5.4% clip and struck out 45.2% of balls in play.
For the Sox, they suddenly seem to have an ace on their hands, who is young and cheap and doesn't have a ton on mileage in his arm. But on the other hand, his early promotion and layoff from Tommy John means he's getting closer to free agency. Given the state of the Sox, it's hard to imagine them getting back into contention during his club's tenure, as their current 15-45 record is the league's worst.
Signing Crochet to an extension would be one way to avoid a trade option, but the rest would have to come to terms with that. Due to his early draft, he is currently expected to hit free agency shortly after his 27th birthday, which is rarely young enough to leave him in good position to earn money a few years from now. The most recent season was difficult for many players, as many of them had to deal with deals that were far below expectations. But two players beat past predictions Yoshinobu Yamamoto again Jung Hoo Leeboth were 25 years old.
If that leaves the Sox open to a trade, the time to do it is now when Crochet's value is at its highest. When the offseason comes, they will only be able to market two postseasons instead of three, and Crochet's salary will also increase in arbitration.
But whether the Padres can pull off such a trade is another question, something Lin and Rosenthal highlighted in their report. The Friars have traded a number of prospects in recent years, including the aforementioned deals for Cease and Arráez, as well as Juan Soto, Josh Hader, Sean Manaea and others. With today's report, the Sox will likely need to bring back a key player in any deal for Crochet. The report talks about prospects Ethan Salas again Leodalis De Vries as a possibility but added that the Padres are reluctant to part with either of those two in the Crochet deal.
Whether a deal can be done remains to be seen, but it's understandable why the Padres are sniffing around for starting pitching. They just put up Joe Musgrove again Yu Darvish from the injured list, two of their most established starters were removed. They still have Cease, but the rotation becomes difficult after that. Michael King he's been a big hit until about a year ago and is still in the process of establishing himself as a big league starter. Matt Waldron again Randy Vásquez each had fewer than 105 major league innings pitched in their careers at the time Adam Mazur will be called up to make his big league debut this week.
Despite the difficult rotation, the club is currently 32-31 and clinging to a Wild Card spot. Further acquiring Crochet or any starting pitcher now, instead of waiting until the deadline in late July, could help the club stay strong in what will be a National League playoff race.
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