Here's why the Sox shouldn't trade Garrett Crochet

White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet has now pitched 10 games this season, his first as a member of the starting rotation after beginning his career as a reliever.

Results have been mixed. Crochet is 4-4 with a 4.18 ERA. On the surface, that's mediocre, but if you dig a little deeper, you can see that Crochet has been good, then bad, and then good again. He's had the league adjust to him, and he's adjusted back.

Let's look at the numbers:

• First 3 starts: 1-1 W-L, 18 innings, 11 hits, 4 R, 4 ER, 21 Ks, 1 BB, 2.00 ERA
• Starts 4-6: 0-3 W-L, 11.2 innings, 16 hits, 17 R, 17 ER, 19 Ks, 7 BBs, 13.11 ERA
• Starts 7-10: 3-0 W-L, 22 innings, 13 hits, 3 R, 3 ER, 30 Ks, 4 BBs, 1.23 ERA

Add it all up, and Crochet is the American League leader in strikeouts with 70. He's done that across 51.2 innings.

In his most recent start, Crochet threw five scoreless innings to pick up the win in a 2-0 White Sox victory over the Washington Nationals.

With each passing successful outing, I've seen more and more people suggest the Sox flip Crochet for prospects at the July trade deadline. They note that Crochet began his career the same year he was drafted -- in 2020 -- so the team only has him under control through the 2026 season.

The argument goes that the Sox will not contend within that time frame, so it makes the most sense to trade him now for futures.

I understand the argument. I just disagree. The main reason is, I don't think Crochet will fetch the Sox premium value in a trade right now.

It's important to note, Crochet's career high in innings is 54.1. He's going to blow by that in his next start. This is May 17. There are still four months left in the season. 

Who knows whether Crochet can make all his starts the rest of this season? He's never done it before, and even if he does hold up physically, it's anyone's guess what quality of innings he will provide a team in August and September.

If you're a contending team looking to acquire starting pitching, sure, a 24-year-old Crochet in his current form is appealing. But are you going to pay top prospects to acquire him when you have no clue whether he can maintain that form for the rest of the season?

Probably not.

And if you're the Sox, if you cannot acquire top prospects for Crochet, then why trade him? 

Maybe Crochet spends the rest of this season proving that he IS a starting pitcher. If he does, then the Sox should go into 2025 with him as an anchor in their rotation, and if the team is indeed not contending, you might find that he'd have even more value in a trade about this time next season.