Despite having one of the best left-handed starters in baseball under control for multiple seasons, the White Sox opted to send Garrett Crochet packing. However, the hard-throwing lefty says doesn’t have any hard feelings.
In an interview with MLB.com Crochet called the news that he had been traded to the Boston Red Sox “bittersweet.”
“Feeling like the White Sox were that team that first believed in me. But I guess this game is such a business side of things that I’m just excited to be a Red Sox now,” Crochet said.
Trade rumors had been swirling around Corchet since the summer. White Sox general manager Chris Getz ultimately felt that with only two years of control and the team being far away from contending, trading his ace could accelerate the team's rebuilding efforts.
In late June USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the White Sox “quietly engaged in brief contract extension talks” with Crochet. But failing to reach an agreement the team no longer felt optimistic they would be able to extend him. However, Crochet shot down that notion saying that there was never any serious talk of an extension. Even if the White Sox were able to extend him they would be pouring money into a pitcher that needed much more help around him to make the team a playoff contender. After using the fifth overall pick in the draft on left-hander Hagen Smith, the writing was on the wall that Getz was trying to cash in on Crochet's early success.
“This is purely speculative, but I felt like where I was at service-time wise it was kind of the smart move for them,” Crochet told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin.
Crochet was excellent during his time with the White Sox. In four seasons on the South Side, he posted a career 3.29 ERA. During his rookie season, he made his MLB debut just weeks after being drafted in 2020. Despite having no time in the minor leagues due to the COVID pandemic, he did not allow a run in six innings and struck out eight of the 22 batters he faced. The following year he posted a 2.82 ERA in 54.1 innings as a reliever, entering home games to the tune of Renegade as the bullpen gates swung open.
He missed the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery then was limited to just 12.2 innings in 2023 due to injury. After spending his first three years in the MLB coming out of the bullpen, the White Sox named Crochet their Opening Day starter in 2024. He found early success, twirling a gem during his first career start against the Tigers on Opening Day, and quickly emerged as the team's ace. Despite being on an innings restriction he ranked fourth in the AL with 209 strikeouts and posted a 3.58 ERA en route to the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
His efforts did little to turn around the White Sox's misfortune. The team lost a record 121 games drawing the ire of an already frustrated fanbase.
“I remember doing some media towards the end of the year about when the fans were booing us when we were playing the Angels, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that didn’t make me happy.’ But I know that us losing the record amount of games lost in a season didn’t make them very happy,” Crochet said. “I remember so many games where I would get in the car on the way home and be like, ‘What the [heck] just happened?’ Jankowski robbing the home run It was like, ‘Dude, what is going on?’” Crochet said. “Most games you could find two or three moments where it’s like, 'How does that not go our way?' We truly seemed to be the most unlucky team, which happened to award us the most losingest team, which is tough.”
