Breaking down the top prospects from Red Sox in Garret Crochet trade
The second major trade and first involving top 100 prospects per MLB.com happened during the Winter Meetings. The White Sox acquired Kyle Teel ( 25th on MLB Pipeline), Braden Montgomery (59th on MLB Pipeline), Chase Medrioth and Wilkerman Gonzalez to the Red Sox for Garrett Crochet. As a Red Sox fan I have mixed feelings about this trade as I was a big fan Teel and Montogmery. That said, I thought it would interesting to take a look at the hobby impact this trade might have on the prospects invovled. Please note I wrote a portion of the player evaluations before the trade happened so I’ll make a comment at the end with more specific details
Braden Montgomery OF
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a massive fan of the Red Sox. Likewise I’m also a massive fan of Braden Montogemry and was thrilled that he slipped to the Red Sox in the first round. The Sox draft strategy as of late has been to pick whatever top five to ten talent that slips to them in the draft and I am all for it! Montgomery certainly fits that bill. Prior to the draft I had no expectation that Montgomery would still be available for the Sox but I was really excited when he was. Equally as exciting was that the Sox didn’t over think it and drafted him right away. Projected to go in the top 5 prior to a broken leg in the super regionals of the College World Series Montgomery had an impressive season as a transfer to Texas A&M. He profiles as a true corner outfielder with a terrific arm and plus power with an improved batting eye.. There’s a chance he may make his debut late this season but that’s more of a long shot given the injury although under different circumstances he’d be talented enough to do so.
The trade to the White Sox should help and hurt Montgoemry’s value to collectors. Prior to this trade Montogmery was benefiting from the hype that comes with a first Bowman card with a team with a popular fan base. Recent sales on 130 point have his base auto checking in at $95-110 dollar range. While solid I expect those prices to cool somewhat as we approach spring training and newer products drop. That said although not certain, I do anticipate his pathway to the majors to be cleared now as Chicago is devoid of talent at the MLB level. The call up bump in value should now happen sooner than it would have in Boston. The White Sox aren’t a high profile team so that could hurt his value as well . there is always the chance that Chicago will rush him to the majors before he is ready to justify the trade helping his hobby value in the short term but hurting in the long run Conversely the White Sox could play the service time game which would delay his call up hobby bump. On a personal note I've really become a fan of Montgomery and am sad to see him leave the Red Sox. He projects not only as a really great young player but as a greay guy as well. It's always nice having players in your personal collection that you can really cheer for so I'm sad to see him go. For White Sox collectors Boston' s loss is Chicago's gain. If you're a fan of the White Sox fan I highly recommend adding his Bowman First auto your collection.
Kyle Teel C
Teel had a lot of pre draft hype was the ACC players of the year prior to his draft beating out several worthy candidates including Rhett Louder and Nick Kurtz. Many had projected Teel to go in the top 10 representing a potential steel for the Sox. Even though he's a catcher which adds risk to his profile for collectors, he has the bat to be an impact MLBer and athleticism to play OF if needed as he works his way toward the majors. The best comp I can think of fr Teel is Jason Kendal with more athleticism and 15-20 home run power. Overall Teel projects as first division catcher with a strong offensive profile. While that doesn't offset the position risk entirely for collectors it does help remove some of it.
Teel has done nothing in the past two years to diminish his overall projection. and if anything enhanced it I still expect him to be a first division catcher. His position will limit his overall value to collectors but like Montgomery he has a much clearer path to majors. Prior to the trade, Teel base autos from 2024 Bowman were selling for $60-75 dollars per 130 point and I would expect them to stay in that range until he gets called up to the majors. Unlike Montgomery, Teel's first auto happened a the beginning of 2024 so his cards have already experienced the post debut cooling phase. Also as described above and at the risk of being repetitive the helping/hurting aspect of the trade for Montgomery also apply to Teel in terms of debut, service time etc. On a personal note I was lucky enough to meet Teel at autograph signings in AA and AAA. He was very engaging and also came across as a high character player and person which added more meaning to having his first Bowman autograph in my personal collection. Again White Sox fans got a good one in Teel , a player who's cards they can feel good about adding their personal collections.
