Report: White Sox interested in Abreu as headliner for Crochet trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Acquiring an ace should be the Boston Red Sox’s top priority this offseason. They can do that by spending big money on one of the top free-agent starters, or they could find a trade partner.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet is currently the most coveted pitcher on the trade market. A number of teams have reportedly expressed interest in the 25-year-old All-Star, including Boston. Sean McAdam of MassLive.com recently reported the Red Sox are “right in the thick of” the Crochet sweepstakes.
McAdam shared more intel on the Crochet trade talks during an appearance on the “Foul Territory” podcast. He identified outfielder Wilyer Abreu as a player Chicago would be interested in as the main piece coming back in a deal.
“I would say Abreu could be made available in the right deal for a frontline starter like Crochet,” he said. “In fact, I was told that the White Sox have interest in Abreu and would be satisfied with him headlining — obviously, not being the only guy in the deal. They’d have to put in much more than that, including a pretty good prospect to go with him, but Abreu is someone on the White Sox’ radar.”
The Red Sox, as McAdam notes, have a logjam in the outfield. They also have a left-handed heavy lineup, so as a left-handed outfielder, Abreu is one of their most sensible trade chips in a potential deal for starting pitching.
“It’s not like the Red Sox are trying to unload him. But again, they’ve got some redundancy here where they could move Abreu and make room and have an outfield that included (Jarren) Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, maybe Kristian Campbell who’s played the outfield, and certainly Roman Anthony,” McAdam added
“So they’re in a position where they’ve stockpiled all this inventory of intriguing young guys, whether they be top Baseball America prospects or guys with very little service time who would be attractive to a team like the White Sox in the middle of a rebuild.”
Parting ways with Abreu would hurt. The 25-year-old is coming off an impressive rookie year in which he notched 15 homers and a .781 OPS in 132 games. He also earned the Gold Glove award in right field.
But since pitching is such a glaring need, and Crochet has serious ace upside, the Red Sox would be foolish not to ponder making the swap. Crochet posted a 3.58 ERA and 1.07 WHIP with a whopping 209 strikeouts and only 33 walks over 32 starts last season. The White Sox lightened his workload in the second half of their abysmal 2024 campaign, so he finished with only 146 innings pitched.
As for the prospects that would have to be included in such a trade, it’s unclear if Boston would have to include one of their “Big 4” of Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, and Kyle Teel. If so, that could be a dealbreaker for a club that has touted its top prospects as the key to the organization’s future success.