New details emerge from Garrett Crochet's trade negotiations at MLB deadline, per report

To White Sox's fans' surprise, ace starter Garrett Crochet remained on the team's roster past this season's MLB trade deadline.

Most suspected the rising left-hander would be traded for prospects to help propel the next era of White Sox baseball. But surprisingly, the White Sox opted to keep him, despite having trade discussions within the last hour of the deadline, according to reports.

Why did the White Sox hold on to Crochet? The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal shared new details about the negotiations. Ultimately, Rosenthal chalks it up to the White Sox not receiving "the offer they wanted."

Rosenthal reports the Dodgers and Phillies both made offers to the White Sox for Crochet that the South Side considered attractive. In the final hour, the White Sox and Dodgers continued negotiations about a possible deal.

"But according to sources, the Phillies did not offer righty Andrew Painter, who underwent Tommy John surgery in July 2023," Rosenthal said. "And the Dodgers did not offer catcher Dalton Rushing, who recently started playing left field with All-Star catcher Will Smith in the first year of a 10-year extension.

"Right-hander River Ryan was among the prospects the Dodgers made available, but the White Sox had concerns about his health after he first missed the first two months of the season with a sore shoulder."

It's no surprise that General Manager Chris Getz set a high price for Crochet. He did the same with Dylan Cease, as it took the entirety of the previous offseason to unload the right-hander to the Padres for right-handed pitcher Drew Thorpe (Padres' No. 5 prospect), outfielder Samuel Zavala (Padres No. 7 prospect), right-handed pitcher Jairo Iriarte (Padres No. 8 prospect), veteran right-hander Steven Wilson.

But Crochet, 25, arguably holds more trade value than Cease back then. The left-hander is excelling in his first season as a full-time starter. In 24 starts (120.2 innings), he's holding a 3.65 ERA and 1.069 WHIP. He's struck out a blistering 167 batters while walking just 30. Per Rosenthal, his ERA ranks in the top seven percent of the league and his strikeout rate stands in the top three percent.

Additionally, Crochet is making $800,000 this season and he's under club control for the next two seasons. According to the report, Crochet will likely command anywhere from $10 to $15 million in arbitration over the next two years. But that's relatively cheap compared to the expected long-term deals free-agent starters will ask for this offseason.

According to Rosenthal, the White Sox also looked at another avenue in trading Crochet.

"In addition to pure prospect deals, the White Sox also entertained offers in which they would have received lesser packages but gained salary relief," he wrote. "Outfielder Andrew Benintendi, owed the balance of his $16.5 million salary this season and a combined $47.5 million over the next three, is among those believed to be part of those discussions."

Before the deadline, Crochet's team requested the White Sox not taper his workload down from that of a traditional starter. The team planned to start lowering his pitch count per start. The message was the same for trade suitors, however, as to not move him to the bullpen ahead of the playoffs.

Regarding the playoffs, Crochet also requested a new contract from the White Sox or a potential trade partner, especially if he were to pitch in October during the postseason. Crochet recently came off Tommy John surgery he underwent in April 2022 and was aiming to protect his future.

And while Getz told the media the requests caught him off guard, reports revealed Crochet's desires didn't deter other teams from attempting to trade for him.

"Several execs I spoke with this week said their teams were willing to ignore that edict," The Athletic's Jayson Stark wrote on Thursday.

MORE: How much did Garrett Crochet's pre-deadline requests affect his tradeability? One insider says not much

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.

"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."

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."

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