Chris Sale pitched the first seven seasons of his MLB career with the Chicago White Sox before being traded to the Boston Red Sox in December 2016. Garrett Crochet spent the first five years of his career with the Pale Hose before being shipped to Beantown in December 2024, eight years and five days following the Sale transaction.
That’s far from where the two tall southpaws’ similarities end.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora discussed Crochet’s arrival to the team on Tuesday, as pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training on Monday.
With Sale now pitching for the Atlanta Braves, Cora said Boston’s new ace reminds him of the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.
“(Garrett Crochet) looks like Chris Sale but stronger,” the 49-year-old said, adding that he hopes Sale doesn’t get offended.
Crochet has been the biggest pickup in what’s been a busy offseason for the Red Sox, as he’s expected to lead the squad’s revamped starting rotation. Crochet was acquired on Dec. 11 in a trade with Chicago in exchange for four minor leaguers, most notably catching prospect and 2023 first-round draft pick Kyle Teel.
Deeper Look at Crochet vs. Sale
Sale was originally selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 21st round of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft, before attending Florida Gulf Coast University. Sale was then chosen by the White Sox with the 13th overall pick during the 2010 draft and made his big-league debut that August at 21 years old.
After spending 2010 and 2011 coming out of Chicago’s bullpen, he entered the rotation in 2012 and immediately became an All-Star. Sale went on to make five consecutive Midsummer Classics for the White Sox from 2012-16, a streak he pushed to seven years in a row during his first two seasons with the Red Sox in 2017 and 2018.
He led the AL in strikeouts in 2015 with 274, MLB in complete games in 2016 with six and tied for the junior circuit lead in complete games in 2013 with four. The only downside to Sale’s career with the South Siders was that the franchise never made the playoffs during his stay, missing the tournament in 11 straight seasons from 2009-19.
Like Sale, Crochet was originally drafted by a team other than the White Sox in a later round of the event, as he was first chosen by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 34th round in 2017 before playing at the University of Tennessee. Crochet was then chosen as the 11th overall pick in 2020 and made his big-league debut that September.
As was the case with Sale, Crochet didn’t start his MLB career in Chicago’s rotation, pitching 54 games out of the bullpen during his 2021 rookie campaign, finishing 3-5 with a career-low 2.52 ERA, as well as 1.27 WHIP and 65 strikeouts over 54 1/3 innings. Crochet underwent Tommy John surgery in early April 2022, causing him to miss that entire season and delaying his 2023 debut until mid-May.
He was limited to 13 relief appearances in 2023 before shifting to the rotation in 2024 and breaking out last season.
Despite finishing 6-12 on a historically bad White Sox club, Crochet also recorded a 3.58 ERA, career-best 1.06 WHIP and 209 strikeouts (fourth-most in AL) across 146 innings pitched covering 32 starts. He was named the June AL Pitcher of the Month, made his first All-Star team in July and earned the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Both Sale and Crochet are listed as 6-foot-6 on their Baseball Reference pages, though the Braves ace is 180 pounds while the latter is 245 pounds. That’s likely what Cora meant when he called Crochet “stronger” than Sale.
Like Sale’s tenure with Chicago, the White Sox never won a postseason series during Crochet’s run with the organization.
Chicago lost in the 2020 AL Wild Card series during the 25-year-old’s rookie season, and while the group earned the AL Central title in 2021, they fell in that year’s ALDS. They missed the playoffs from 2022-24.
Red Sox Nation is hoping that Crochet can bring the same kind of success to the team in 2025 that Sale had during his Boston stay from 2017-23.
The Red Sox made the playoffs three times with Sale on the roster, including their 2018 World Series title when Cora was in his first year at the helm. Sale was the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2017, leading MLB in innings pitched (214 1/3) and strikeouts (career-high 308).
Following the championship though, Sale closed his Red Sox career with five injury-plagued seasons, never pitching more than 150 innings or making more than 25 starts. He was sent to the Braves with cash on Dec. 30, 2023 for middle infielder Vaughn Grissom.
Trade of Sale Another Recent Failure by Red Sox Front Office
Boston sold low on Sale and the lanky veteran immediately made the Red Sox front office regret the decision.
He not only had his first healthy campaign of the decade but had a renaissance season on his way to his first career Cy Young award.
Sale won the NL pitching triple crown by leading the league in wins with a career-high 18 (against just three losses), ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225). He also made his eighth career All-Star team and first since 2018, while finishing seventh in the NL MVP voting and earning his first Gold Glove award.
To make matters worse, Grissom posted an anemic .190/.246/.219 slash line with no home runs and six RBI across 105 at-bats, as he was limited to 31 games due to injury.
The Sale-Grissom trade may not be as infamous as the Mookie Betts blockbuster of February 2020, but the early returns show this was yet another failure from the Red Sox front office.
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