MLB Trade Rumors: Buzz Surrounding Garrett Crochet and Top Players Available
Garrett Crochet was one of the best pitchers in baseball last season, despite playing on one of the worst teams in the sports' long history.
He is also the apple of many a team's eye this offseason, with two new organizations reaching out to the Chicago White Sox to inquire about his availability.
Who are those teams and who else has generated trade discussions?
Find out with the latest from some of baseball's top insiders.
Latest Teams Interested in Garrett Crochet
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Add the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds to the list of teams interested in trading for Chicago White Sox star lefty Garrett Crochet.
MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported that the NL Central teams are the latest teams to inquire about the ace. He also noted that the Cubs are of note because they have completed trades with the across-town White Sox four times since 2017.
It is no surprise that Crochet is one of the most coveted trade targets this off-season. He was a rare bright spot for a historically bad club, appearing in 146 innings, striking out 209 batters, walking just 33, and establishing a 4.1 WAR.
He throw 6.3 strikeouts to every walk.
All of that in just his first season as a traditional starter.
Should the Cubs acquire him, the team will have one of the best rotations in the game. The Reds, on the other hand, would likely make Crochet the centerpiece of their otherwise young pitching room.
There will be other teams seeking to add a pitcher of Crochet's quality to their roster. The Phillies, for one, could utilize his skill set in their pursuit of an NL pennant while the Baltimore Orioles also have unsettled business that an upgrade to their rotation would help significantly.
Mets' Brett Baty Coming Up in Trade Talks
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Once upon a time, Brett Baty was one of the faces of the Mets' future. A hard-hitting collegiate star, he was expected to hold down third base for the Amazins for the next decade.
His struggles to translate his hard-hitting to the majors, and the emergence of Mark Vientos as a legitimate star in New York, have left his future in question.
Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that Baty's name has come up in trade calls and that the organization could be interested in dealing him in return for pitching, depending on how free agency plays out.
Puma iterated, though, that the team is not actively shopping the third-baseman.
Baty played in 50 games for the Mets in 2024, tallying 35 hits, 15 runs, and a batting average of .229. His slump landed him in the team's Triple-A organization in Syracuse.
Whether another team believes they can rehabilitate his bat to adjust to major league hitting remains to be seen, as does the Mets' willingness to give up on him and let him go elsewhere.
Guardians Listening to Offers on Lane Thomas, Josh Naylor
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With Josh Naylor and Lane Thomas entering the final years on their contracts, the Cleveland Guardians are listening to offers, per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.
"When a player's salary rises and his years of control diminish, small-market teams often look for a way out," he wrote.
Naylor has been one of the Guardians' best players and holds down first base. In 2024, he hit 31 home runs, drove in 108 runs, and compiled a .776 OPS.
Thomas is a bit more expendable and the team needs to improve its outfield, so he would seemingly be the easier player to part with. He hit 15 home runs and tallied 65 RBI.
The question would be whether the team could receive enough in return to justify trading away either player. That they are entertaining talks suggests that they believe they can. Especially in Naylor's case, it would be interesting to see how the organization replaces the veterans and still manages to stay competitive in a loaded American League.
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