Reporting yesterday indicated that the market for White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet has started to heat up, with an increasing chance that a deal could come together at some point during the Winter Meetings this week. The Yankees, Red Sox, Padres, Cubs, and Reds are among the suitors who have previously been mentioned, but Jon Morosi of MLBNetwork added an additional suitor this morning when he reported that the Brewers are among the teams who remain engaged with Chicago regarding Crochet.
Milwaukee is an intriguing suitor for Crochet’s services. While the club typically focuses on internal development and savvy free agent deals in the middle and lower tiers of free agency in order to sustain their status as perennial contenders, the Brewers have swung trades for notable players such as Willy Adames and Christian Yelich in the past. Adames, of course, just signed with the Giants after declining a Qualifying Offer from the club, but Yelich went on to become a franchise stalwart who is under contract in Milwaukee through the end of the 2028 season. While Crochet comes with just two years of team control as opposed to the three-and-a-half and five years of control Adames and Yelich respectively had remaining at the time of their deals, the Brewers are firmly in the midst of their competitive window and have plenty of reason to be aggressive.
The club has weathered the losses of stars like Adames, Corbin Burnes, and Josh Hader in recent years that have left them facing increased long-term uncertainty, and with groups of exciting young talent in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago reaching the majors it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where Milwaukee’s recent dominance over the NL Central comes to an end within the next few years. Adding a player with Crochet’s upside to a rotation that already figures to feature Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta this winter could be a way for the Brewers to guarantee their competitive window remains firmly open in 2025, and do so at a relatively affordable financial cost. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Crochet to make just $2.9MM in his penultimate trip through arbitration this winter. That’s a salary any club could afford, including the budget-conscious Brew Crew.
Of course, a trade for Crochet would come with plenty of risks. The southpaw managed just 146 innings in 2024 after two lost seasons due to injury and has never shown himself to be capable of handling a full starter’s workload at the MLB level; while he started 32 games in 2024, 17 of those starts lasted less than five innings. Even setting aside those volume- and health-related concerns, trading significant prospect capital for a player who wouldn’t be under long-term team control may be a difficult pill to swallow. While prospects like Jeferson Quero and Jacob Misiorowski could be used to create an enticing package for Chicago, the Brewers lack the high-end talent other suitors like the Padres (Ethan Salas), Red Sox (Marcelo Mayer), and Cubs (Matt Shaw) may be able to offer.
Of course, the prospect capital lost in a hypothetical Crochet trade could be made up for in other ways. The Brewers could pull from the playbook San Diego ultimately wound up using with Juan Soto and slot Crochet into their rotation for a year before flipping him next winter. It’s even possible that could land the club a return somewhat comparable to what they gave up if Crochet is able to stay healthy and establish himself as capable of pitching a wire-to-wire big league season on a starter’s workload this year. Alternatively, it’s at least plausible that Milwaukee could explore extension talks with Crochet that would keep him in town for longer than his two years of team control, though it’s unclear whether or not the club would have room on their books for the sort of salary Crochet could command given that any extension would overlap with the final years of Yelich’s deal.
I could see this. I think they hoped Hall would be their Crochet but that sure didn’t work out.
Early returns may be unfavorable, but that could change. Some pitchers develop later in their career. Woodruff was pretty good from the start. Burnes got knocked around a bit his first season as a starter. I’m not saying anything is for certain, just that the jury is still out on Hall.
Definitely hasnt worked out so far. I doubt they have given up on it though. With his injury and the late timing of the trade, their Pitching Lab barely had time to work with him. I look forward to seeing what a full offseason and ST will do for him.
Hall could go back to Chicago in this deal too.
I don’t think it makes a lot of sense for Chicago to target another c prospect. They have a Quero already. Milwaukee has some interesting low minor prospects too.
Jesus Made & Cooper Pratt. CWS would be taking more of a quantity of good than elite prospect return from Milwaukee though. Made has the upside to be a top 10 baseball prospect at some point in time but he is so far off.
IMO the kind of gamble the White Sox should take. I’d be shooting for upside if I was in their current position.
jbigz: Have you seen the return the Sox have gotten in trades? Can I point out what they got for Kopech, Fedde and Pham? Kopech wins a well deserved WS ring and we get a 3B man who can’t hit .200 and has a hole in his glove. It won’t take a high end prospect to get Crochet. Not with Getz in the GM chair.
I suspect they will handle Made like they handled Chourio and will be equally as untouchable. Pratt I think they have big plans for but thats the price you have to pay sometimes, so maybe he goes.
If that’s the case he would’ve been traded already. The WSox are asking for the moon with Crochett. They want top 100 prospects, 2 preferably, and a throw in. Crochett is a luxury as they have the two best left handed pitching prospects in the minors (Schultz and Smith) and both are close to MLB ready. They don’t need three left handed starters.
I was right. 2 top 100s and 2 throw ins.
The Brewers don’t have what the Sox need. They need outfielders very badly! They want 2 significant bats in any deal -preferably in the OF.
They don’t need a catcher or pitchers. Their position player prospects are in the infield.
Boston is the best match for them.
White Sox need high ceiling 19 and 20 year olds. They are years away from competing again
Agree- Pratt plus either Rodriguez or Payne would be a decent start…assuming they’re negotiating with the Brewers. If some of the guys already in the Sox system develop more quickly than anticipated, then flip some youngsters for someone closer to the majors…but this team is far from being ready to compete and I worry about them cutting corners, which is how they end up stuck in the middle of the pack most years.
The White Sox really need everything prospect wise aside from pitching and probably Catcher.
But you can’t really have enough pitching and they don’t have much established. Targeting lower ceiling upper minors players is just going to turn the same results. Vargas was a bad trade target.
jbigz: I know Getz keeps playing up Kory Lee, but he’s a terrible C. He wouldn’t even be a back up on 29 teams.
Quero is the future starter
roob: The Sox lost 121 games this season. They need EVERYTHING!
Dying for the Phillies to be engaged in anything except talking about how great their team is….
There has been like zero Phillies talk this off-season it feels like.
You waste an inordinate amount of energy kvetching about rumors and the lack thereof, and all of the “asleep at the wheel” nonsense. The Phillies have the best run organization that we have seen in our lifetimes from an overall perspective.
We all love the big swings at expensive free agents, but the Phils nave a ton of payroll as a result of the last few years of buying a team while they rebuild the farm from the disaster of the Klentak regime. Now, the approach has to be toned down, and they should be filling in the gaps with shorter term signings while they look towards the farm to produce inexpensive, high upside results. Painter for sure this year; probably Crawford and maybe Rincones at some point this season; Miller next year and a bunch of young arms that should produce another couple of pen arms and rotation hopefuls. Trading the very top of the farm should not occur for someone like Crochet (only controlled for two years).
Middleton has more willingness to spend at a high level and with the right approach to team stewardship for a guy without the limitless pockets of other owners than we have ever seen in our past of conservative ownership groups. Try to see beyond the window shades if possible, and take a larger view.
Well over the course of less than 2 seasons, they lost Adames and Burnes. Not sure they can legit compete unless they reload so yeah this makes sense. Hope it works out from them.
The team weathered the loss of Burnes just fine and are a super young club at many positions. Turang and Frelick are winning awards and Chourio looks like a star. They do need to find a way to scrape back the stats they lost in Adames and I am curious how they will do that.
Ortiz is quite good too. I see them pursuing savvy trades like the one that got them Adames.
Maybe going for Jo Adell. Maybe they sign Bryan De La Cruz and help him reach his potential. Stick him in LF or RF and move Chourio or Frelick to CF (might be best to have Yelich DH to keep him healthy). Or perhaps they trade for Brett Baty or Luis Rengifo to cover 3B while moving Ortiz back to SS.
Adell is awful. Bryan De La Cruz could be a good bounce back guy, but would like to see Teo or Santander there.
Adell isn’t any worse than De La Cruz.
I agree Adell is awful. But the idea is that you’re adding someone with pedigree in the hopes that they reach their potential. A team like the Brewers is limited in their resources, which is why they might see value in a guy like him.
Having said that, DLC would be my preference by far.
DLC has posted above average offense twice in his career while Adell has failed to do so even once so far.
He is.
They also need someone to step up into his leadership position as well
Frelick is overrated and a one year wonder. How he was awarded a Gold Glove is beyond me. Trade hom while his perceived value is high.
How is he overrated? What do people even rate him as? He’s not a star and wouldnt get that much in a trade, but he plays excellent defense and is very good on the basepaths. His lack of any pop is made up for in the defense provided, which is what the Brewers whole plan is right now of run prevention.
Their young core is developing nicely and their division is weak. They will be in the mix again for a central title. Well ran franchises always are !
Jesus Made is their best prospect imo, but he’s years away.
Agreed. At least three years away.
The marketing and headlines alone will be amazing. Fingers crossed Jesus Made will be a star!
I wish they’d just trade him already and move on to trading Vaughn and Robert.
I’m excited for the White Sox in ’25, but only if those three have punched their tickets out of town. Benintendi too hopefully. Complete teardown.
Let’s field the best team possible with the prospects and all the scraps on the open market at the tail end of FA.
I’d like the Dbacks to trade for Vaughn to cover 1B, tbh. I still think there’s a good hitter in there.
Wagner>Cobb,
You want Andrew Vaughn? A change of scenery might help him. All yours!
That would be a good fit, he isn’t as bad of a defensive first baseman as I thought he would be either, actually has pretty good defensive numbers. He is an above average hitter too, certainly a starter on a lot of teams at 1B or at DH.
Three years away? White Sox aren’t going to be competitive any time soon so that works.
They will handle Made like they handled Chourio. I suspect he will be equally as untouchable.
Pretty sure he was talking about Jesus Made, not the team itself.
I could see the Brewers doing a trade for Crochet, he has what 2 to 3 years of team control. Then after the 2 to 3 yrs are up, they trade him or let him run through Free Agency.
2 years. Peralta, Crochet, Woodruff is a nice looking 1-2-3. If they spend the high prospect capital required to get Crochet, then signing a bat on the cheap like Bryan De La Cruz makes sense.
IF Woody works out this year (and who knows if that will be the case), he’s only signed through the end of next season and might find more money to be had elsewhere.
A catching tandem of Quero & Quero could be interesting.
Not wrong.
Sounds like a Law Office.
Set asking price too high, read reports that many teams are unwilling to part with the only pieces that will get it done for the Sox, then the Sox tell the media that a new team is involved. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Milwaukee usually has good prospects, and they have a good player development, I wouldn’t mind a trade with them for Crochet.
Yes, get this done and extend him. Something that centers around Cooper Pratt and Tyler Black would be nice since they have Futures Game and MLB experience. Keep Jesus Made. With Hall in the rotation as well we might have decent starting pitching again. Then swap Williams and Bohm to make all those rumors true.
Bohm for williams is the dumbest idea I’ve heard in forever.. he’s had 1 good month his while career.. took 4 yrs to to show any sign and what he did show still isn’t good. 105 career ops+ with a bad glove. That doesn’t get williams. Make it Aiden and maybe. Bohm is trash and won’t ever get williams. Whoever wrote that early on and got it stuffed into everyone’s head is dumb.
Care to share with that ultra intelligent brain of yours what a good trade package for Williams is that cures the hole at 3rd base? Williams stock isn’t going to get any higher.
Ummm. Read. If it’s Phil’s. Aiden miller. Don’t see why they even need help at 3rd. Black can play there.. everyone seems to want a bat. They need arms. Pratt, made, wilkens, black, among others have the dirt covered. Heck moncada is better than bohm and basically free. So my intelligent brain says get pitching! Take out bohms april and he is below average with the bat and glove last yr.
If the Phillies don’t want to trade their #2 prospect what makes you think that they will trade their #1? Rhetorical question. Yes, we need pitching and Moncada could cover 3rd. But you already have all the answers so you don’t need me to tell you anything your intellect isn’t already telling you.
Yeah cause proposals can’t include other players right. If I say 1 for 1, that’s it right? It couldn’t be williams and lara or something to that effect right? Sure does make trading hard.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a great match-up for a third baseman for Williams deal. It would have to be a contending team, as a rebuilding team wouldn’t be interested in rental closer. The only names that have come up that seems to fit that are Baty (NYM), Bohm (PHI) or Jung (TEX). Suarez from ARI has been tossed around, but I don’t think the Brewers would want to take on his salary. The Rockies wouldn’t want Williams in a deal for McMahon, and the salary for him could be an issue.
Not like there is any history of the brewers turning closers into all stars. Also if you have millet over painter… no argument needed.. you like all the list makers you seem to memorize instead of forming your own opinions are so right… except hello Contreras!!!
Exactly… moncada as a bridge to black. They don’t even need help beyond like June. Get arms for williams all day. And if it’s a phillies trade because they are contenders who need a closer… get tait.
It would be better to play Monasterio at third over Black.
Frelick is the starting 3b next year. Ortiz will be SS. Mitchell in RF, Perkins in CF Churio in LF Yeluch DH. Black’s arm is too weak for 2b…3b is not an option. 1B is his only path to playing in the majors
ANYONE EXCEPT THE CUBS!!!!
Brewers remain engaged while the Reds apparently dropped out.
Explains the last two seasons of the NL Central in a nutshell.
This may be a case of the Brewers being the Brewers. I say that with the highest compliment for that organization. Could be the interest is valid. Could be the Brewers putting pressure on the Cubs to overpay.
Quero is a better prospect than Salas, assuming he comes back healthy. Not sure why Salas is a “high-end” prospect but Quero isn’t.
That assumption shouldn’t be made lightly. Quero had the same shoulder injury Jimmy Nelson did, except worse.
Not taking anything away from Crochet (He looks great.), but two years of a guy with significant injury issues and 3.58 ERA isn’t worth a top prospect like Shaw for the Cubs. They have a fairly solid starting group at this point. I’m typically of the opinion to trade almost any prospects for a proven major leaguer, but not in this case. Sucks if it works out for the Brewers though.
It still feels like Baltimore lines up the best
No chance.
Prospect quality for Milwaukee not high enough to get Crochet.
Nothing but B level or below.
Sox need a solid A and a secondary B Prospect, or just an A if he’s a Top 20 MLB prospect.
Just curious. How do you define “A” and “B” prospects?
They have a Top 10 farm system. It’s what teams are willing to give up. It sounds like Crochet is on the way out sometime this offseason. All the Brewers have to do is have a better package than the other teams. Sometimes, GMs target specific players for various reasons. Like when the Brewers got both Payamps and William Contreras for Estuery Ruiz. The A’s valued him highly for some reason. Just because MLB ranks a player Top 20 doesn’t mean Getz rates them that highly.
Mizeroski even up would be an overpay. The Brewers have the prospect capital. Every team in baseball has the prospect capital to get Crochet.
I can’t fathom the dislike the WS have for him and their other young players. GM is a total loser and they have little coaching help for their young players. Sick of the “we got to get younger”- Crochet is young and other teams want him – why don’t the WS. Jerry is so cheap!!!