9:12pm: Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that the escalators are based on Cy Young finishes and could reach $2MM annually between 2027-31. Feinsand also reports that the deal includes a $2MM assignment bonus in the event of a trade, though there is not any no-trade protection.
8:27pm: The Red Sox and Garrett Crochet have reached agreement on a six-year, $170MM extension, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The deal goes into effect in 2026 and includes an opt-out after the fifth season, Passan adds. Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the deal includes an additional $10MM in escalators.
Boston acquired Crochet in one of the offseason’s biggest trades. They packaged four prospects, including their two most recent first-rounders Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, to land the All-Star lefty from the White Sox. Crochet had seemed likely to move at last summer’s deadline until a late revelation that his camp was seeking an extension from a new team if he was going to continue pitching through a playoff race.
Crochet was wrapping up his first full season as a starting pitcher. The 6’6″ southpaw threw a total of 132 innings in college at Tennessee. His draft year was cut short by the cancelation of the 2020 college season. The White Sox selected him 11th overall and fast-tracked him to the big leagues as a reliever. Crochet pitched well in that role for his first year-plus but blew out his elbow in Spring Training 2022. He underwent Tommy John surgery that cost him that season and limited him to 12 2/3 innings the following year.
By the time he’d returned from the Tommy John rehab, the White Sox were in full rebuild mode. They took the higher-upside play of giving Crochet a chance to start going into 2024. They probably didn’t expect him to pitch as well as he did. Crochet’s stuff was still overpowering as a starter. He struck out 35.2% of opposing hitters en route to a 3.02 ERA in 107 1/3 frames through the All-Star Break. Chicago dramatically pull back his workload after the trade deadline. While they kept him on a regular rotation schedule, the White Sox limited him to 2-4 inning appearances for the final two months of the season. That was a prudent approach to keep him healthy after essentially two straight lost seasons.
Crochet finished the year with a 3.58 ERA across 146 2/3 innings. He struck out 209 hitters while issuing only 33 walks. No other pitcher with at least 100 innings posted a better strikeout rate than his 35.1% mark. On a per-pitch basis, only Blake Snell got more swinging strikes. Crochet’s already impressive ERA was probably a bit inflated by pitching in front of a poor White Sox defense. His swing-and-miss ability pointed to ace upside so long as he could maintain his stuff while working a regular starting workload for a full season.
The Red Sox clearly believe that’s realistic. They parted with a decent amount of prospect talent to acquire Crochet’s final two years of arbitration eligibility. They almost immediately opened extension conversations. Unlike last summer, there was never any doubt that Crochet would pitch into October this year (so long as he stays healthy) regardless of whether a deal got done. Crochet indicated he’d table discussions come Opening Day. That’s a common refrain among players, but it’s not unheard of for players to back off that self-imposed deadline if there’s only a narrow gap as the regular season opens.
While nothing got done last week, Crochet told WEEI’s Rob Bradford on Friday that talks had gone “to the wire” and said that boded well for whenever they reopened discussions. They were evidently close enough to continue communications and get the deal done. It will not have any impact on this year’s payroll calculations. Crochet is making a modest $3.8MM, as his arbitration earning potential had been limited by his lack of innings.
That’ll jump beginning next year. The specific salary structure has not been reported, but the contract will count for roughly $28.33MM against Boston’s luxury tax ledger each season from 2026-31.
More to come.
