White Sox ace moving on from Deadline talk

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO – Garrett Crochet’s next start is scheduled for Saturday night against the Twins and Bailey Ober at Target Field.

The talented White Sox southpaw will pitch a set number of innings or pitches designed by the team and then talk about his night’s work with the media after this American League Central contest. For the first time in about one month, Crochet won’t have to discuss the possibility of being traded or whether he’s made his last trip to the mound for the White Sox.

“Yeah, I’m fired up about that,” said Crochet with a wry smile prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Royals. “Happy with exactly where I'm at.

“Everything typically happens for a reason. I think that ultimately the right move was made, and here I am. [I'm] just going to focus on my next start [and] keep going from there."

That right move was keeping Crochet as the Trade Deadline passed at 5 p.m. CT this past Tuesday. He’s the ace of the White Sox staff and at 25 years old, he has emerged as Major League Baseball’s most dominant starter during the first half of his first season as a starter.

But for a team deep in a rebuild, entering Friday’s series opener in Minnesota with a franchise record 17-game losing streak and at a franchise-worst 57 games below .500 at 27-84, Crochet and his two years remaining of arbitration control after ’24 also became one of their most prominent trade chips. Managing workload emerged as a question for Crochet, who has thrown 114 1/3 innings in ’24, compared to 73 total for his whole career.

A social media report from New York Daily News’ Jon Heyman also put out a message of how Crochet wanted to stay as a starter, and wanted a contract extension to extend himself into the postseason if he was traded. The starter component made sense for a player who had worked diligently to get to this level, and the extension didn’t seem to dampen interest, with a couple of teams in pursuit until the Deadline.

Those teams couldn’t agree on a full return package with the White Sox. General manager Chris Getz spoke of being a little surprised and hurt by the contract extension message delivered from Crochet’s side prior to the Deadline, but they also remained in a good place and Getz even addressed the topic of a future Crochet extension with the White Sox.

“We’re going to have time to be able to have dialog with Garrett and with his agents. And if it lines up, it lines up,” Getz said. “For what he’s done so far as a new starting pitcher at the Major League level is nothing short of phenomenal.

“To be able to be part of his journey as he continues to mature as a pitcher and person, I’d love to be part of that. But it’s got to make sense for both sides.”

With Getz being busy during the Deadline, Crochet didn’t get to see him a ton. He agreed their relationship was still on solid terms even after the extension talk.

“Whether a deal went through or not, I don't think [it] was dependent on that being said or not,” Crochet said. “Any team would see the amount of innings I threw last year and find it reasonable.

“Anybody can understand where I'm coming from in that regard. I think it may have come across as greedy to some, but I think those in the industry realized it's logical to have that line of thinking.”

A plan exists to taper Crochet’s workload, which started with his last four outings going four innings and 93 pitches in Miami, two innings and 28 pitches vs. the Pirates, four innings and 74 pitches at Texas and three innings and 64 pitches vs. the Mariners. He continues leading the AL with 160 strikeouts, trailing only former teammate Dylan Cease’s MLB-leading total of 174.

While Crochet was “open to anything” where extension talks are concerned, he also knows trade talks could pick up again in the offseason with more teams interested and no innings caveat. For now, Crochet’s focus is putting a proper finish on this amazing ’24 starting story.

"Whether a workload conversation happens at some point, I imagine I'll be involved in that,” Crochet said. “At the same time, I'd rather not be on the forefront [of] making the call. I want to go out there and pitch, and whenever I'm done, take the ball.

“Maybe I'll be pissed, but I'd rather it that way than knowing what I've got going into the game and then I feel like I'm trying to be economical with my pitches, maybe throwing just trying to get out of an inning. Trying to get a ground ball, instead of blowing heaters like I typically would."