The Padres still need pitching, especially as Joe Musgrove is set to miss the entire 2025 season. Could a big trade for Garrett Crochet be the answer?

As we learn during most postseasons, pitching is king. The Los Angeles Dodgers rode their experienced pitching staff to a World Series title a few weeks ago. The Padres had a solid staff in their own right, but it wasn’t quite enough.

The Padres had a strong starting rotation featuring Dylan Cease, Michael King, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Matt Waldron, Martin Perez, and Randy Vasquez. Musgrove will miss the entire 2025 season with Tommy John surgery, leaving an enormous hole towards the top of the rotation. The innings-eater Perez is also gone in free agency. That leaves the Padres without a viable left-handed starting option.

Garrett Crochet was a hot trade commodity this past summer after the White Sox converted him from high-leverage reliever into starting pitcher, which led to him being an All-Star. Chicago ultimately held onto their best trade chip through the season in hopes of having an increased market for the lefty in the offseason.

Now, the stove is heating up, and Crochet appears to be on the market.

MLB executives are expecting the White Sox to trade Garrett Crochet, per @JimBowdenGM

Red Sox, Orioles and Dodgers are the most likely landing spots pic.twitter.com/JiAlbWdKAk

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) November 12, 2024

Fresh off the worst season in MLB history, the White Sox are anxious to cash in. Should the Padres enter the sweepstakes to acquire Crochet? Let’s look at the pros and cons.

Pros

Crochet was one of baseball’s most dominant starting pitchers in the first half of the season. He led all starting pitchers in WAR before the All-Star break, with a 3.02 ERA in 107 innings. This was quite the coming-out party after spending his MLB career as a reliever before 2024.

With a minimum of 100 innings pitched, Crochet led all of baseball with a 12.9 strikeouts-per-nine rate over the entire season. His fastball touches 100 mph and is in the 98th percentile in run value. He has elite strikeout stuff.

Given that he started his career as a reliever, the 6-foot-6 lefty does not have the same wear and tear that another starting pitcher on the market would have. Over parts of four seasons, he has logged less than 220 innings.

With his swing-and-miss stuff from the left side, he would add an element to the Padres rotation that they haven’t had since Blake Snell left.

Not to mention, Crochet made under $1 million last season. While he is definitely due for a raise, it likely won’t be more than $3-4 million—certainly, an affordable price in regards to payroll for the financially-conscious Padres brass. There is no better bang-for-your-buck option among starting pitchers this offseason.

Cons

Basically, the concerns regarding a possible deal for Crochet are two-fold: the possible cost of prospects and the generally small sample size of his success.

The White Sox essentially shut him down following the All-Star break, as he pitched just 38 innings over 12 starts after the break. Along with averaging just over three innings per start, he also posted a concerning 5.12 ERA. Quite simply, he faded hard down the stretch as his workload greatly diminished. Does he have the stamina to get a full season’s work as a starting pitcher on a contending team?

The prospect price will be steep for whoever pays it. Bleacher Report proposed a deal last week for the Padres that most San Diego fans would find rather steep.

8. San Diego Padres

Hypothetical Trade: San Diego sends C Ethan Salas, LHP Kash Mayfield and OF Kavares Tears to Chicago White Sox for LHP Garrett Crochet pic.twitter.com/bdldnvWxqg

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) November 9, 2024

That would mean the Padres part with their No. 1-ranked prospect (Salas, plus their third (Mayfield) and sixth-ranked (Tears) prospects in the organization. Parting with three of their top six prospects, along with the No. 19-overall prospect in baseball, for a pitcher who was a full-time starter for basically half of a season in his career seems like a wild gamble.

So the question remains: should the Padres engage? If that is truly near the correct price in prospects, the Padres should look elsewhere.

Nick Lee

Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.