Trade Deadline Fits that Just Make Sense
It's that time of the year again!
The end of July is like Christmas for baseball fans — well only if your favorite team is a contender… unless you’re a sicko like me.
With the Major League Baseball trade deadline quickly approaching, I will be taking an in-depth look at two trades that make sense regarding the right fit for both sides involved.
Unfortunately, I won’t be making any official mock packages back or anything like that, this will strictly feature some perfect fits that could push these clubs over the hump come October.
1. Garrett Crochet heads to BAL in historic deal
Standing at six-foot-six, White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet has always possessed the arm talent of a budding ace. The biggest question for Crochet was not IF it was going to happen, but WHEN.
After making his first career start back on Opening Day, the former Tennessee Vol quickly proved that he wasn’t just a high-leverage bullpen arm (bearing injuries, of course).
Luckily for the White Sox, Crochet has stayed healthy all season long — something he’s struggled to accomplish in the past. He’s currently made 21 starts for the last-place AL Central squad and even made the All-Star game with a 3.07 ERA and a whopping 157 strikeouts across 111+ frames. Dominance isn’t a strong enough word.
In favor of the dumpster fire that is the current Chicago White Sox, he’s maximized his trade value as well.
Crochet is a perfect fit in Baltimore. A young, hungry club ready to make a push at the World Series, the Orioles have all the talent in the world. Besides a left-handed starting pitcher.
With John Means going down for the second season in a row, not only would Crochet provide a needed left-handed arm for the Orioles, but is in a different league on the bump compared to Means.
Netting a potential AL Cy Young candidate will be expensive, but the Orioles have the necessary prospects to cough up. Rumors of Jackson Holliday being traded have circulated on Twitter after he struggled in the Show, but I think it’d be foolish to give up that easily on the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball.
Top-catching youngster Samuel Basallo will most likely headline what’s being sent back to the South Side.
2. Isaac Paredes will love the Crawford Boxes
The Rays are notorious for being aggressive in the trade market. Tampa is also notorious for trading its players at peak value, only for said players to fall off a cliff while they collect prospect packages for sport. It’s a rinse-and-repeat cycle that’s kept one of MLB’s smallest markets afloat for years.
Ironically, one of the players most likely to be shipped off in a couple of weeks, Isaac Paredes, was on the other side of one of these deals not long ago.
Currently 25 years young, Paredes was sent to the Rays when the club traded Austin Meadows to the Tigers. Once a head-scratching move, is making the front office look like geniuses again.
Enjoying a breakout year, Paredes made the All-Star game for the first time just a week ago. The third-baseman has clubbed 16 home runs, driven in 51, and boasts a 129 OPS+.
His swing decisions and plate skills are off the charts, yet poor bat speeds and exit velocities lead me to believe he may be on his way out of the Trop.
A beat-up Rays club features three important injured arms, pitchers the club views as playoff starters. Combined with being nine and a half games back in a crowded AL East — the club will most likely regroup for 2025 when McClanahan, Rasmussen, and Springs are (fully) healthy.
If the picture above doesn’t indicate Paredes would be comfortable crushing home runs 315 feet into the Crawford Boxes in Houston, I don’t know what does.
Not only does Minute Maid Park pertain to his swing, but Astros longtime third baseman Alex Bregman is set to hit free agency following the 2024 season and will be pricey. Paredes can look to be the long-term solution for his vacancy.
With Houston playing great baseball as of late, and the AL West being a dogfight, it’s no surprise they’d be buying. Tampa always seems to take advantage of the desperate clubs.
Paredes is still young and reminds me of a prime Eduardo Escobar sparkplug-type bat used for potential playoff runs. He has to potential to join a lineup with plenty of October experience.