It is a good thing rookie pitcher Drew Thorpe and Jonathan Cannon are showing promise.
That is because according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the Chicago White Sox will trade Garrett Crochet before the trade deadline.
Bob has excellent sources within the White Sox organization, so you can take it to the bank that it is becoming apparent that Crochet's days are numbered on the Southside.
There is one reported reason for the Sox taking this stance and two other reasons that the White Sox are looking to trade their ace pitcher.
Nightengale had in his write-up that the White Sox did engage in brief contract extension talks. Those talks did not yield an agreement. That is a big reason for the Sox to be motivated to trade Crochet.
You might be wondering why the White Sox would want to trade Crochet even if they failed to extend him considering he is under team control for two more seasons.
The calculus of when the White Sox might be good again does not match up with how many years of club control the team has left over Crochet. Realistically the soonest the White Sox could contend for the AL Central is 2026.
The Sox would need Thorpe and Cannon to transition from promise to certified top of the rotation pitchers along with other prospects like Noah Schultz, Jairo Iriate, Jake Eder, Mason Adams, Nick Nastrini, and Ky Bush.
Plus, hitting prospects such as Colson Montgomery, Edgar Quero, Bryan Ramos, and Jacob Gonzalez prove they can hit in the big leagues. It would also help if Oscar Colas can drive the ball in the majors.
So 2025 would have to be a development year at the major-league level before the team is ready to compete again. Without an extension, Crochet would be in the last year of team control and by then the Sox would be staring down losing him for nothing just to attempt to win the division. Usually, teams do not win the World Series in their first year of being a contender.
Since Garrett is making $800k this year and has two more offseasons of team control, this is probably the highest his value will ever be on the trade market even if he is on an innings limit.
This is his first year as a starter so the Sox have made it clear they are not going to throw him a ton of innings. Even then, he has value for a contender out of the pen since he has been a reliever and come October, high-leverage situations may appear say in the middle innings. There a contender can deploy Crochet.
Nightengale wrote up that is unlikely the Sox will move Luis Robert Jr. at the deadline since there are injury concerns and his batting average and on-base percentage numbers are down. That is not exactly going to recoup full value, so the team might move in the offseason. That means Crochet is the player the Sox have outside of Erick Fedde to get impact prospects in the trade market.
The White Sox require more players with high upside to get things turned around by 2026, especially when it comes to hitting prospects. That is the other reason the Sox are motivated to move Crochet as he can deliver those type of players.
However, the asking price is high. Nightengale reported the Los Angeles Dodgers already made an offer and the Sox quickly rejected it.
It is sad to see the White Sox not opening up the wallet to keep Crochet as it is hard to find an ace. The Sox drafted and developed Crochet and instead of pairing him up with Thorpe and Cannon for the foreseeable future, the White Sox are going to do what they always do and let a young pitcher thrive someplace else.