ChiSox59

It doesn't make any sense, Fathom. I don't buy it. You can't completely rule it out because White Sox, but I refuse to believe this is actually a thing. Even more insane is trading Robert for a busted prospect with the same amount of control. If that's Robert's value, not holding him and hoping for a big first half is ABSOLUTE INSANITY.

It's obvious trolling. Or like you said, we're fuc ked.

None of this makes any sense.

What good does an ace SP do you for you when you're projected to lose 120 games with him? Honest question.

While I am not advocating for trading for Abreu is the headliner (think he would be a fine 2nd piece), comparing the ages of Crochet and Abreu is worthless. Control is what matters.

I don't either. It would be terrible. Sox are in relatively solid shape as far as SP goes. Position players? Yuck. Was just playing along with the game though, because the logic just isn't there. Its also worth recognizing that elite offensive talents rarely get traded now a days. Look no further than the Cease deal. Still can't believe that is the best we could get.

While I wouldn't trade for a pitcher headliner in a Crochet deal, I'll play along. If Crochet's arm explodes next season, he very well may never pitch another inning for the White Sox, and if he does, we're talking 2nd half of 2026, and he'd have next to zero trade value, if any. If the Sox were to acquire Andrew Painter, he has 6-7 years of control. If he goes down with another TJS, he either has 6-7 years of control still, or worst case, you lose a season and a half of control if he happens to be on the active roster when the injury happens. This is pretty meaningful difference when the Sox might lose more than 121 games in 2025 (even with Crochet!), and would require a miraculous turn around to be remotely competitive in 2026 (even with Crochet!). But we can continue to ignore those extremely relevant details if you so wish.

You could theoretically bring him back for a couple mill. Giving him the $5M we would have gotten in arb would have been insane. That being said, just give those at bats to guys already in the org (Sosa, Baldwin, Amaya, etc.). Colson will factor into the infield mix by June too. By the way, does anyone know what happened to Braden Shewmake? After getting demoted early the season, he played of a bit in Charlotte, hit the IL and never heard an update rest of season. Kinda weird.

Hmmm. You're on quite a tear lately. You're a smart guy, so I am not telling you anything you don't know, but... I personally wouldn't extend Crochet. To me, he feels like a huge injury risk. There are so few miles on his arm, his injury history, lack of history starting, pitching motion, etc. In fact, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he didn't even make it to FA without a major injury. Handing him a long term deal at $20-25M would insanely risky for a team that doesn't hand out big contracts. Imagine the meltdown if the Sox hold him this offsaeason and his arm blows up in June. I am sure you'll suddenly be campaigning that it was idiotic to keep him. You have to look at his limited control, how bad the team projects to be in thsoe two years even with him, the fact that he is the last bullet of big time trade value left, and the Sox badly needing more talent. He's gootta go. And those things aren't really affected by the fact that JR is POS (which we can certainly agree on).

Trading Crochet is such a no brainer. I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone that understands (a) where the Sox currently stand; (b) how the white sox historically have operated; (c) the dearth of high end positional talent; and (d) Crochet's general risk profile, current value and contractual status; can possibly believe that retaining Crochet is in the organization's best interest.

He's also dealt with achilles issues, which certainly would impact mobility and athleticism in the OF. Sounds like he played through it April/May before hitting the IL in early June with it. Not really defending his OF defense, its been mostly terrible. It routinely look like he wasn't even trying out there. He did look noticeably better out there towards the end of 24 though. Where did I say he's going to be a 2-3 WAR player? I said "its not beyond the realm of possibility he will be a positive WAR player..". As in like the 0.5-1 WAR range.

Was a fan of his several years ago. Missed most of 2023 and all of 2024 following shoulder surgery.

This. Garrett Crochet owes a big thank you to the White Sox. In most orgs, he'd be 4-5 years from free agency.

I think Benintendi has some left in the tank. The bat was solid June on, and was actually quite good in August and September. He also looked more athletic in the field as the season went on; its obvious he really wasn't healthy in 23 and early 24. He's overpaid without a doubt, but most FAs are, and I don't think its beyond the realm of possibility he could be positive WAR player the rest of his contract. I personally would just keep him. He's a good first half away from being tradable. Attaching him to Crochet is insanity and I refuse to believe its something they're actually considering. They'll be a bottom 5 payroll in the league even with Beni, and badly need to maximize talent infusion.

WOOF. Robert has more control than Lux. Makes less than zero sense

That crowd has their head in the sand (or worse).

Trading Crochet is a no brainer. The risk of holding him is insanely high, and his value isn't going to get higher than it is right now. Whether or not Getz can get a very good return remains to be seen, but I am fairly confident most every club will be interested so he should be able to get a good return. I certainly have my concerns as outlined previously in this very thread, but they're not significant enough to say "hey, lets keep him and watch his value decrease on a 100+ loss club even if he's really good". The Sox are going to lose 100+ games. 62-100 would be a 21 game improvement, and this roster is very likely to be less talented than last years. Dumb luck may get them a 5-10 game improvement with a worse roster, but there are no FA adds that suddenly take this team remotely close to .500.

Why? I see Crochet as an incredibly risky extension. I don't see him holding up long term as a SP. The Sox extending him (as an example - they wont), with two seasons of cheap control would be a crazy decision IMO.

I certainly hope he can do better. We need bats, not arms.

Crochet and Fedde aren’t in the same stratosphere of value.

I hate that this is still a thing being discussed. I just cannot for the life of me fathom why prioritizing dumping Beni is a priority over maximizing return. It doesn’t make a single lick of sense. It’s the White Sox, so you can’t completely dismiss it, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

I am almost certain that the buy-out is due when the player is bought out. Moncada has already been bought out, so I assume that has already been paid. I guess its possible that it could depend on the language within each individual contract, but not sure why any agent would ask for anything other than it paid out immediately as $1>$1 later.

I will never understand why buy-out figures would be counted for the following season. Using Moncada and Stassi as an example, those dollars are/were paid in 2024 (literally already paid), months before even reporting to 2025 spring training. IMO, they shouldn't be factored into 2025 payroll estimates. Also, re: Flexen he is a FA. It was a surprise to me when I saw it, but must have something to do with coming over from Korea or wherever he was. He has under 6 years of service so typically would not be a FA, but he is. Kind of a bummer because he would be useful to keep around as back-end rotation insurance / long relief.

Crochet is controlled for 2 seasons. The first season they’ll be terrible. Absolute best case scenario, Sox are mildly interesting up and coming team in 2026. Crochets control does not fit the time line and the Sox desperately need position player talent and he’s the last major piece to get it.

For sure. I don’t expect it to happen quickly. But I think as many as 20 or more teams should have legitimate interest. They should be able to do really well. I don’t think Getz did all that well in the Cease deal, so it’s certainly fair to have some skepticism there, and obviously teams have been pretty reluctant to move elite position player prospects recently.