Padres need to be careful with Garrett Crochet pursuit after latest trade talk reveal

Eric Cole

Chicago White Sox v Miami Marlins / Rich Storry/GettyImages

For the most part, the San Diego Padres have been fortunate to have a general manager as aggressive as AJ Preller. Just this season alone, Preller managed to trade for Dylan Cease (literally as the team was about to start the regular season) while also shocking the baseball world by getting the Marlins to send Luis Arráez over during a point in the season when trades rarely happen at all.

However, there have also been some notable Padres misses that have come with that aggression. Giving up Trea Turner when he was a prospect to acquire Wil Myers stands out as a painful mistake, with Eric Hosmer getting a massive contract up there as well.

Those mistakes should serve as cautionary tales at this year's trade deadline, especially with USA Today's Bob Nightengale reporting that the Padres already had one offer for Garrett Crochet rebuffed by the White Sox.

Padres Rumors: San Diego's pursuit of Garrett Crochet needs to have real limits

It's unclear how hard the Padres pushed here, but the fact the offer was noteworthy enough to actually be reported on does imply that it wasn't a total laugher. The White Sox know how valuable Crochet is on the trade market and their asking price has been extremely (and understandably) high from the jump.

Crochet's talent and team control explains the Padres' interest in him, but restraint in how aggressive Preller and the rest of the front office should be noted here. San Diego has already been described as such in pursuing Crochet, but the Padres could end up bidding against themselves for an awfully risky asset.

First, Crochet has a recent injury history to consider. While his 2022 Tommy John surgery isn't the red flag it used to be as more and more pitchers are coming back from the procedure strong, the left-hander being so reliant on his overpowering stuff to succeed should at least give the Padres pause.

The other issue is the prospect of Crochet potentially requiring an innings limit this season. Trading for Crochet as a play for the future makes sense regardless of how the 2024 season goes given that he doesnt hit free agency until after 2026, but trading the farm for him when he may not even be able to start for a huge chunk of the second half (with that being a need for the Padres right now) wouldn't feel great.

In short, San Diego playing with the big boys at the trade deadline should be celebrated, but that doesn't mean they should overpay for a guy like Crochet. They already reportedly made a strong offer, so it might be time to sit back and wait for the White Sox to call back.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.