The Chicago White Sox have been seen as likely to trade pitcher Garrett Crochet before the July 30 deadline, but Crochet may be seriously complicating matters.
Teams interested in trading Crochet are increasingly concerned that he might not be available for a potential playoff run, according to Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal, and Will Sammon of The Athletic. Crochet wants a contract extension from any team that trades for him before he agrees to pitch into October.
Crochet and the White Sox had previously worked out a plan to manage his workload in his first full season as a starter. Crochet is already close to his innings cap, and wants to protect his long-term health by either sticking to the plan or getting a guaranteed long-term contract that would ensure he is still taken care of if he were to get hurt.
In addition, Crochet is said to be uninterested in taking on a relief role, even for a playoff team. He believes remaining on a starter’s schedule would be best for his long-term durability.
Interested teams could theoretically trade for Crochet and essentially dismiss his demands. However, poisoning the well with Crochet immediately after acquiring him probably would not be in any team’s best interests. Instead, they face the risk of having to give Crochet a new contract without knowing whether he is durable or capable of pitching into the playoffs. For that reason, the report suggests that the White Sox may wait until the offseason to try to trade Crochet when more teams may be interested and would have time to work on an agreeable plan with Crochet.
The temptation to trade for Crochet may still prove too strong for some teams to resist. After all, he has a 3.07 ERA and and a league-leading 157 strikeouts in 111.1 innings. He is in his first season ever as a full-time starter, a role that he did not even have in college at Tennessee, and underwent Tommy John surgery two years ago. One team has been consistently linked to him, but a deal may be too tough to pull off right now.
