With Garrett Crochet trade, Red Sox add a frontline starter and White Sox infuse their rebuild with prospects

DALLAS — After their failed pursuit of Juan Soto, the baseball world was waiting for the Red Sox to finally make their first big move of the offseason. And on the final day of the winter meetings, Boston took care of a significant need, acquiring left-hander Garrett Crochet from the Chicago White Sox for a huge prospect haul, including catcher Kyle Teel, outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth and right-hander Wikelman Gonzalez.

Crochet, 25, has been one of the biggest trade pieces on the market since July’s trade deadline, and it’s easy to understand why. The new Red Sox ace thrived in his first full season as a starter in 2024, quickly becoming one of the game’s elite power arms as he struck out 209 to the tune of a 3.58 ERA.

One look at Crochet’s underlying metrics shows just how much of an impact addition the southpaw is. He led MLB last season with a 35% strikeout rate in just 146 innings, and after the Sox missed out on the likes of Max Fried, who agreed Tuesday on an eight-year, $218 million deal with the Yankees, they can now cross frontline starter off their list of offseason needs.

Ever since Craig Breslow took over as Boston’s chief baseball officer, pitching has clearly been a priority for the team as the Red Sox look to keep pace in the stacked AL East. Adding Crochet allows the Red Sox to slot the rest of their rotation down, with Crochet followed by the likes of Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Bryan Bello after the departure of Nick Pivetta in free agency.

Perhaps the biggest bonus here for the Red Sox is acquiring a frontline starter with two years of club control remaining, especially given how expensive this winter’s market for starting pitching has become. Boston could certainly extend Crochet and keep him in a Red Sox uniform for the foreseeable future.

Similarly to the division-rival Yankees, Boston can now chart a new course for the remainder of this winter, the next step of which should be searching for more offense. The Red Sox should be in the mix for free-agent additions such as Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernández and Alex Bregman, and adding someone like third baseman Nolan Arenado via trade would also help them upgrade their offense.

What to make of the White Sox’s return?

With one of the strongest farm systems in baseball and an urgent need for top-end pitching, the Red Sox were always a sensible match for Chicago in its pursuit of a Crochet deal. Once it became clear that Crochet was available, it wasn’t difficult to dream up combinations of Red Sox prospects and/or young position players who could entice the White Sox to pull the trigger on the blockbuster deal they were seeking.

Which of Boston’s so-called “Big 4” prospects — outfielder Roman Anthony (MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 overall prospect), shortstop Marcelo Mayer (No. 7 overall), catcher Kyle Teel (2023 first-round draft pick) and Kristian Campbell (one of 2024’s biggest prospect breakouts) — would the White Sox prioritize in a Crochet deal? Might Chicago have interest in young hitters we’ve already seen in the big leagues, such as Wilyer Abreu or Triston Casas? Or would minor leaguers remain the focus?

Well, our imagination is no longer necessary. The requisite prospect package for Crochet has been assembled — and Boston indeed paid a hefty price.

Teel is the headliner — and a fascinating one at that. The 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft, he combines rare athleticism for a catcher with exciting offensive upside. He improved at the plate each season during his three years at the University of Virginia and didn’t stop hitting once he entered pro ball, racing all the way to Triple-A by the end of 2024. His statlines might never be especially gaudy, but the bar for catcher production at the plate is notoriously low — and Teel projects to clear it comfortably. While his fantastic arm is his best trait on defense, he continues to improve in other aspects of the position. This is one of the best catching prospects in baseball.

Catcher is a crucial position for any franchise to have figured out, and now Chicago has multiple promising candidates atop its system, as Teel joins 21-year-old switch-hitter Edgar Quero — acquired from the Angels for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez at the 2023 trade deadline — as another potential backstop of the future. Both players finished 2024 in Triple-A, so it’ll be interesting to see which arrives in the major leagues sooner and if either starts to get playing time at other positions to increase the likelihood that they could occupy the same roster for years to come.

Conversely, Teel’s departure creates interesting questions about Boston’s catching depth. Teel appeared primed to be the team’s backstop of the future, but now the line of succession behind Connor Wong is unclear. And Wong isn’t exactly a sure thing moving forward. While his surface numbers at the plate were solid in 2024, he rates poorly across the board defensively, and his underlying offensive metrics portray a far less potent bat. This is a position to monitor for Boston. (Sure enough, the Red Sox made another move later Wednesday to acquire catcher Carlos Narvaez from the Yankees.)

Montgomery is arguably the co-headliner alongside Teel, and it would not be surprising if he emerges over the next calendar year as Chicago’s best position-player prospect. He appeared to be a consensus top-eight talent in the 2024 draft as a switch-hitting slugger out of Texas A&M, but he broke his ankle late in his junior season and ultimately fell to Boston at No. 12. He didn’t play after signing because of the injury, so now his pro debut will take place with a new organization. There are some questions about his overall hitting, but Montgomery looks like a potential star right fielder on paper. This trade makes him one of the more intriguing players in minor-league baseball entering 2025, as he will look to make a strong first impression for a team that surely has sky-high expectations for him.

With so much infield depth at Boston’s upper levels, Meidroth’s remarkable ascent to the cusp of the big leagues has gone somewhat overlooked. I highlighted him last summer as one of the more interesting prospects in the minors for his combination of defensive versatility and tremendous on-base ability, and now he joins a team that offers markedly more opportunities for him to make an impact at the major-league level in the near future. He still needs to work on elevating the ball more frequently, but the terrific plate discipline skills remain intact, and it would not be surprising to see Meidroth get considerable playing time in Chicago in 2025.

In a Boston farm system flush with bats, Gonzalez stood out for his upside on the mound, though he comes with considerable questions. At roughly 6 feet and 180 pounds, he doesn’t have the typical workhorse starter build, but he makes up for that with an incredibly live arm and fantastic raw stuff featuring a mid-90s heater and a plus curveball. He broke out in a huge way in 2023, when his 35.2% strikeout rate led minor-league pitchers with at least 100 innings, but his 14.7% walk rate was 12th-highest among the same sample. Command remains a struggle for Gonzalez, and he spent all of 2024 in Double-A, failing to replicate that level of dominance before he was limited to more condensed outings. He’ll be just 23 next season, and there are plenty of encouraging ingredients in place, but it remains unclear whether his future is in the bullpen or the rotation.

On the whole, Boston has to feel good about getting this deal done without trading away a potential superstar in Anthony or any of the key pieces on the current major-league roster. This is a healthy amount of talent to give up, but as the market has dictated, starting pitching is expensive no matter how you acquire it, and Crochet was one of the best arms available.

For the White Sox, more than any of the other deals made during their complete teardown of the roster over the past two years, this trade has the potential to alter the outlook of Chicago’s rebuild dramatically. Teel and Montgomery project as the kind of offensive building blocks this franchise sorely needs. But prospects are never guaranteed, so as with any trade of this nature, we’re years away from being able to properly assess its consequences.