Pirates Named Landing Spots For White Sox Ace
While there's no disputing that the Pittsburgh Pirates need to add a proven bat or two to improve what was one of the league's worst offenses last season, no team can have too much pitching.
Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller had the Pirates adding to what could already be one of the better starting rotations in baseball by trading for Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet. In exchange for Crochet, Miller had the Pirates trading right-handed pitcher and top-100 prospect Braxton Ashcraft, shortstop Mitch Jebb and right-handed pitcher Levi Sterling.
"After missing the playoffs by a margin of at least seven games for the ninth consecutive year, maybe the Pirates go get the guy who should have started the 2024 All-Star Game for the American League to join forces with the guy who started the 2024 All-Star Game for the National League," Miller writes. "And maybe by combining Crochet with Skenes, Keller and Jones, the Pirates can get back to routinely mowing down the competition like they did in 2013 and 2015 with a rotation led by Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, A.J. Burnett and Charlie Morton."
Crochet was one of the most rumored players to be on the move at the trade deadline but a move never came to fruition. The 2024 All-Star went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA and struck out 209 batters over 146 innings pitched.
While there's no disputing Crochet's stuff, his injury history, which included needing Tommy John surgery in 2022, is worrisome. If he can stay healthy, though, he's capable of being one of the game's top arms.
At some point, the stockpile of arms Pittsburgh has accumulated in its farm system has to turn into proven players. While it'd be wise to use it to add offense, no team can have too much pitching. And if that lands a pitcher of Crochet's caliber for Pittsburgh, it may have one of the best rotations in baseball for the foreseeable future and an electric one-two punch with him and Paul Skenes.
