The Boston Red Sox finally landed a top-of-the-rotation pitcher when they traded a plethora of prospects to the Chicago White Sox for Garrett Crochet.
The Red Sox received a 25-year-old pitcher who finished the season with 209 strikeouts in just 146 innings (32 starts) last season. Chicago got first-round draft picks Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, along with Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez.
MLB insider Joel Sherman said the Red Sox left themselves the ability to play in any market they want in free agency because Crochet is a top-level talent with a low-level contract.
“The Red Sox can’t keep promising their fans Paris and giving them Poughkeepsie,” Sherman said on MLB Network. “At some point, you’ve got to do better than that, and this is the beginning toward you moving toward Paris. At least you can see it. You can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. But you can’t stop now.”
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi believes the White Sox definitely improved with the trade.
“Chris Getz and the Chicago White Sox did very well here,” Morosi said. “Because they read the market. They understood that once Max Fried went to the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox had to answer and they have. This is a very good deal for the White Sox to get two of the Red Sox’s top five prospects, Kyle Teel and Montgomery.”
“The White Sox were very determined to both things you could do in a big trade — get quantity and quality,” Sherman said. “They wanted some guys who they could really sell as high-end guys. Teel certainly falls into that and they wanted some depth to show for this.”
At first glance, both the Red Sox and White Sox accomplished their goals. If Crochet becomes the pitcher he showed flashes of last season, no one in Boston, at least, will question the trade.
