Do these 8 suitors have enough to land Crochet?

Left-hander Garrett Crochet is arguably the most coveted pitcher on the trade market this offseason -- assuming the White Sox are ready to negotiate.

The expectation is that the Sox will indeed trade their star pitcher, and a recent report tabbed eight teams that could be in the mix for the 2024 All-Star: the Phillies, Padres, Yankees, Dodgers, Braves, Orioles, Red Sox and Mets.

• The latest Garrett Crochet trade rumors

Is Crochet a match?

Phillies: The Phillies made a hard push for Crochet in July, but they fell short because they wouldn’t include top pitching prospect Andrew Painter. It remains unlikely the Phillies trade Painter, whom they expect to contribute to the big league rotation in 2025. But the Phillies have enough talent to make the White Sox consider them as a potential match. Why do they want Crochet when they already have Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Christopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez and Painter on the way? Because teams can never have enough starting pitching and Crochet is elite. – Todd Zolecki

Padres: Crochet is a sensible fit in a Padres rotation that needs short-term help (with Joe Musgrove slated to miss 2025 after Tommy John surgery) and longer-term stability (with an aging Yu Darvish and both Dylan Cease and Michael King slated to hit free agency after next offseason). A Crochet trade would also fit the style of general manager A.J. Preller, who has made a habit of acquiring front-line pitching via blockbuster offseason trades. It’s how he landed all four of those current rotation pieces. But if the Padres weren’t willing to part with one of their top two prospects -- catcher Ethan Salas and shortstop Leodalis De Vries -- to acquire Crochet at the Trade Deadline … has anything changed? – AJ Cassavell

Yankees: The Yankees did make a pitch for Crochet ahead of the Trade Deadline in July and were reportedly told that they did not match up, with Chicago unmoved by the prospects in New York’s system. Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones meet the criteria of being high-ceiling position players who could anchor a trade, but since their stocks haven’t jumped significantly since the summer, there’s little reason to believe much has changed since then. – Bryan Hoch

Dodgers: You can never have enough pitching, and the Dodgers were reminded of that last season, needing bullpen games to get through the postseason. Adding a pitcher of this caliber makes a lot of sense for the Dodgers, particularly because they’ll be going to a six-man rotation this season in order to facilitate Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and, if they land him, Roki Sasaki. The more options they can have, the better. – Juan Toribio

Braves: It would make perfect sense for the Braves to acquire this Chris Sale clone and allow him to spend the next two years being Sale’s teammate. Crochet would be the potential frontline starter who could help compensate for Spencer Strider’s absence in April and the potential free agent departures of Max Fried and Charlie Morton. But the Braves don’t have the top position player prospect the White Sox are seeking. So, this seems to be a one-sided fit. – Mark Bowman

Orioles: Even with the O’s seemingly more willing to spend big money this winter, Corbin Burnes may land the type of megadeal that Baltimore will still be reluctant to hand out. So a new ace could be needed to replace the hole atop the rotation that would form by Burnes signing elsewhere. The Orioles are also lacking a front-line lefty, with John Means becoming a free agent and recovering from a Tommy John surgery that will sideline him for most (if not all) of 2025. Crochet seems like a great fit, especially being under team control for two seasons. But Baltimore’s farm system isn’t quite as deep as it was last offseason (when it sent infielder Joey Ortiz and lefty DL Hall to Milwaukee for Burnes), so a big trade would further hurt it. – Jake Rill

Red Sox: Crochet would be a perfect fit for a Red Sox rotation that currently lacks a front-line starter and a lefty. At 25 years old, Crochet could give the club an immediate boost while also settling into the team’s long-term plans. He has two arbitration-eligible years left before hitting free agency. If Boston is successful in landing Crochet, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will likely work to sign him to an extension. In Crochet, the Red Sox see a pitcher who could make an impact similar to the one made by Tarik Skubal in Detroit. – Ian Browne

Mets: The Mets need starting pitching badly and have the financial resources to offer Crochet an immediate contract extension. Their president of baseball operations, David Stearns, is also on record saying how much he values the trade market because it gives him access to players that wouldn’t normally be available in free agency -- players like Crochet, for example, who is 25 and has multiple years of team control remaining. For all those reasons, this feels like a match. But unless the Mets are willing to lop off the top of an improving farm system, they may not be able to compete with other, more nimble clubs. Keep in mind that the White Sox won’t be asking for Brett Baty to headline a deal like this. They’ll be asking for Jett Williams and a whole lot more. – Anthony DiComo

What players could be offered in a trade?

Phillies: The Phillies have four top 100 prospects in Aidan Miller (No. 26), Painter (No. 32), Justin Crawford (No. 53) and Starlyn Caba (No. 81). Dave Dombrowski thinks Painter is going to be a star, so he remains unlikely to be traded. But would the Phillies trade Miller? Evaluators have said Miller is the Phillies’ best position player prospect since at least Chase Utley. If the Phillies want to trade from their big league roster, third baseman Alec Bohm, left-hander Suárez and outfielders Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas could be dealt. – Zolecki

Padres: The Padres had plenty of interest in Crochet at the Deadline, but they were reluctant to deal Salas or De Vries, and that likely cost them any chance. Instead, they dealt nearly every other big-name prospect of note in their system in other deals. So even though a Crochet trade would clearly bolster the Padres’ rotation -- it seems unlikely given the state of the farm system and the fact that they probably won’t budge on their top two prospects. – Cassavell

Yankees: Any package for Crochet might have to begin with Domínguez and/or Jones, then add more, which is a price the Yankees seem unwilling to meet. The Yanks' top 10 seems a bit thin at the moment, populated by a lot of lower-level, high-ceiling gambles like infielders George Lombard Jr. and Roderick Arias. – Hoch

Dodgers: The teams have a history already, coming to terms on trades in each of the last three seasons, including at the Deadline. The Dodgers’ best piece is top prospect Dalton Rushing and they have a number of pitching prospects who will be back healthy this season. – Toribio

Braves: The Braves' top-ranked position player is shortstop Nacho Alvarez Jr., who will likely need to move to third base or second base at the big league level. Their second-highest ranked position player is catcher Drake Baldwin, who may factor into Atlanta’s plans for 2025. The White Sox could be interested in Cam Caminiti, AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta’s top three pitching prospects. But without a position player involved, Atlanta would likely have to deal at least two of its top pitching prospects. If they were certain they could control Crochet for more than two years, that could work. But the price might be too high if the sense is Crochet would exit once he becomes a free agent after the 2027 season. – Bowman

Orioles: It’s hard to envision Baltimore being willing to trade either infielder Coby Mayo (O’s No. 1, No. 8 overall) or catcher Samuel Basallo (O’s No. 2, No. 13 overall). But it could take one of them to serve as a centerpiece of a Crochet trade to make it happen. The Orioles’ farm system isn’t as deep as it once was, with a pair of outfielders in Vance Honeycutt (2024 first-round Draft pick) and Enrique Bradfield Jr. ('23 first-rounder) at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. If the White Sox were open to a package featuring Honeycutt or Bradfield, as well as another pair of top-15 prospects from the O’s system, then perhaps there would be a good match. But the Orioles still believe in Mayo despite his early MLB struggles and the 20-year-old Basallo is a future star. – Rill

Red Sox: The Red Sox, with a talented young core at the Major League level, and four top prospects in the upper levels of the Minors, are probably as well-positioned as any team to meet Chicago’s needs in a deal for Crochet. Left-handed-hitting outfielder Roman Anthony, Boston’s No. 1 prospect (No. 3 in MLB) per Pipeline, would likely be the one player the Red Sox would keep off-limits. A deal would probably have to include one of Boston’s No. 2-4 prospects in shortstop Marcelo Mayer, INF/OF Kristian Campbell and catcher Kyle Teel. As far as Major Leaguers that might entice the White Sox, the Red Sox could offer Gold Glove Award-winning right fielder Wilyer Abreu or slugging first baseman Triston Casas. – Browne

Mets: The Mets boast some of the finest position-player talent they’ve had at the top of their system in years, including Nos. 2 through 6 prospects Williams, Drew Gilbert, Ryan Clifford, Carson Benge and Ronny Mauricio. They could also try to sell high on No. 12 prospect Luisangel Acu?a, or dangle Baty as a change-of-scenery candidate. The trouble is that many of those players are difficult to evaluate at the moment, considering Williams, Gilbert, Mauricio and Baty all missed significant time this year due to injury, while Benge is only just beginning his professional career. As such, their offer would likely be higher-risk than those of other clubs. – DiComo