Padres' trade for White Sox starter Garrett Crochet will require the unthinkable

The San Diego Padres need to address the starting rotation. Yu Darvish, Dylan Cease, and Michael King are all frontline starters and give the Padres a puncher's chance against the onslaught of All-Stars in the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup. But with Joe Musgrove out for the 2025 campaign following Tommy John surgery, San Diego must add another starting pitcher in order to keep them on equal footing with the defending World Series champions heading into next season.

That's where Garrett Crochet comes in. The Friar faithful have heard Crochet's name in trade rumors since last spring. Padres President of Baseball Operations AJ Preller was said to be captivated by Crochet. So much so, that it was almost shocking when the MLB trade deadline came and went without a deal in place.

But the Chicago White Sox are shopping Crochet this offseason, and the left-hander is expected to draw quite the crowd. While Crochet was as popular target last summer, the South Siders might find that they have even more suitors during the offseason. You can bet your bottom dollar that Preller will be near the front of the line, but will the Padres' top decision-maker do what's necessary in order to bring Crochet to America's Finest City?

Padres' trade for White Sox starter Garrett Crochet will require the unthinkable

Do you remember what it took in order for the Padres to pull off last year's trade for Cease? The Friars had to surrender top-100 prospect Drew Thorpe along with Sammy Zavala, Jairo Iriarte, and Steven Wilson. Three of those four players were top-10 organizational prospects according to MLB Pipeline. It'll take a similar haul in order to get a deal done for Crochet, and the Padres will have to do the unthinkable in order to pry the southpaw away from the White Sox.

Sorry Pads fans, but it'll take one of Leodalis De Vries or Ethan Salas to get a deal done. That's just the facts. Both are top-50 prospects, and that's going to be the cost of doing business with White Sox GM Chris Getz this offseason. Does Preller have the stomach to make such a move? That remains to be seen.

With both shortstop and catcher being relatively devoid of talent and the Padres' pursestrings becoming awful taut, the prudent thing for San Diego would be to hold on to their young prospects with both projected to be contributors by 2026.

But Preller may be tired of waiting. How much longer can he afford to just allow the Dodgers to compile talent with an uninhibited march to the NL West title and eventually the postseason? At some point, the Padres must stand in the gap. Neither De Vries nor Salas will contribute next season, and even 2026 is an unknown. With King and Cease slated to hit the open market after the 2025 season, it may be time for Preller to push all his chips in to the center of the table.

Losing one of De Vries or Salas would be a tough pill to swallow, but if it brought San Diego two years of a Cy Young contender, it might be worth it. While some of the Friar faithful see this scenario as a gut punch, it's necessary if the Padres want to trade for Crochet.

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