The Baltimore Orioles are the second-best match for the White Sox.
The Orioles have the next-best average farm system ranking after the Red Sox. Since some of their prospects have graduated to the big leagues, the opinions on their system vary. ESPN still has the Orioles as the No. 1 farm system. Bleacher Report has dropped them down to 23.
With Fangraphs and MLB Pipeline still having them in their top 10's, the average ranking of their system is eight.
They still have two prospects that would be great building blocks for the White Sox in catcher/first baseman Samuel Basallo and infielder Coby Mayo. Both are considered top 15 prospects.
Plus, the Orioles do a great job of developing hitting. It is one reason the White Sox just hired Baltimore's former co-hitting coach, Ryan Fuller, to be in charge of the organization's hitting.
Baltimore also has seven hitters among their top 10 prospects, but only three who are close to making their big league debuts.
The Orioles were desperate for pitching last season and traded Joey Ortiz to the Milwaukee Brewers as part of the package to get Corbin Burnes. Ortiz had a solid season this year for the Crew. Now that Burnes might be leaving Baltimore in free agency, there is belief the Orioles will use the trade market to get Crochet.
The catch is the Orioles have yet to trade their stud hitters. Heston Kjerstad and Colton Cowser were never leveraged in trades because the Orioles value the cheap deals they are on and have used them to fill holes once a veteran departs in free agency.
The New York Mets can provide some bats in a deal, but just not at the same caliber that the Red Sox and Orioles can offer
The Mets could use a top of a rotation pitcher especially with some of their starters being on the free-agent market.
The Mets farm system rankings average is 13. They got five prospects in MLB Pipeline's top 100 with four of them being position players. Six hitters make up their top 10 with four of them close to a big-league debut.
They could also dangle former top prospect Brett Baty, who missed a ton of time with injuries. He still has a lot of talent that the Sox could see if he can realize on the Southside.
The Mets also have David Stearns running their front office. The last major move he made going into the second season of running the club, he fleeced the Miami Marlins for Christian Yelich when Stearns was running the Brewers.
You just fear Getz being on the phone with Stearns and getting talked into a lesser package because the Mets can afford to take on Andrew Benintendi's salary.
The Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres have bats but most of them are in A-ball.
The Phillies could have reportedly had Crochet at the deadline had they been willing to part with pitcher Andrew Painter. The Phillies have eight hitters in their top 10 but only two are above Double-A.
The Sox would need more volume in a trade return to take on the high-ceiling, long-wait prospects for Crochet. The same can be said for the Padres, who pulled off a fair trade with the Sox for Dylan Cease before the season started.
You feel comfortable with Getz being on the phone and working out a deal with A.J. Preller since he already worked out a good deal for another Sox ace. The problem is the Padres bats are all at A-ball, so it would be another patient return if the White Sox traded with the Padres.
San Diego also had the worst farm system ranking average among all the teams on Olney's list.