Ahead of the MLB trade deadline, news surfaced of White Sox starter Garrett Crochet and his management requesting he continue as a full-time starter and receive a new contract with either the team or a potential trade suitor.
Some believed the request ruined the White Sox's chances of trading him. Crochet is exploring uncharted waters in terms of his innings count this season. And part of his attraction is he's under club control for two more seasons, earning $800,000 this season.
General manager Chris Getz said it's "tough to measure" whether or not the message affected his trade market. Crochet, however, was adamant his messaging didn't think his requests were out of line, nor soured his value.
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"Whether a deal went through or not, I don't think was dependent on that being said or not," Crochet said Wednesday. "I think that any team would see the amount of innings I threw last year and find it reasonable, so ultimately I think it was the right call."
According to a new report, Crochet appears to be correct.
"Several execs I spoke with this week said their teams were willing to ignore that edict," The Athletic's Jayson Stark wrote on Thursday.
Stark also quoted MLB executives bewildered by the White Sox's move not to trade Crochet, considering this season's market widely benefitted selling teams.
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"I thought for sure they would move Crochet," one executive from "one team that at least kicked the tires on him" told The Athletic. "Now maybe they’re going to say: ‘OK, we’ll just hold him until the winter when you’ve got all the teams involved.’ I just know there were some pretty big prospect names being tossed around. And look, he’s not my player. But let’s just say I’d have been tempted to do something if I were them."
MORE: Garrett Crochet remorseless about trade deadline requests for contract, starter's workload
Getz, to this point in his tenure as the White Sox GM, has shown an aptitude for maximizing the value of players he trades. He did that with Dylan Cease, considering it took the team the entire offseason to offload him to the Padres for four players, three of whom were prospects.
It's possible, however, that the White Sox could've received more for Cease had they waited until this deadline to trade him. Sellers benefitted greatly from selling arms at the deadline, including the Marlins (four top Padres prospects for Tanner Scott), the Angels (two top Phillies pitching prospects for Carlos Estévez) and the Rays (three Padres prospects for Jason Adam).
However, Getz may have missed the mark to maximize the return for Crochet, who was considered by some as the best pitcher on the trade market ahead of the deadline. Should he injure himself or fall off his career season trajectory, his value will undeniably decrease.
This offseason, Getz should hope to get the most out of Crochet, or else their rebuild may take a step back. But he believes with more clubs around, Crochet's interest could increase in the winter.
"Arms like that just don't come around," Getz said of trading Crochet during the offseason. "And, the interest, perhaps, could be even stronger, being that it's the offseason, and the urgency can change for a handful of clubs. So I anticipate the attention on Garrett and the interest in acquiring him is only going to go up."