Left-handed starter Garrett Crochet and the Boston Red Sox agreed to a six-year, $170 million contract extension on Monday, surprisingly just four days after agreeing to pause contract talks for the rest of the 2025 season.
Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported Tuesday that “there was enough progress toward a deal that the pitcher and his representatives kept the door open, resulting in the agreement in the first week of the season.”
The contract gives the 25-year-old Crochet the option to walk away after the 2030 season, with no deferred payments involved. If he decides to exercise that opt-out, heâd be passing on about $30 million and heading into free agency just ahead of his age-31 campaign.
The Red Sox landed their number one starter in a trade that sent four prospects to the Chicago White Sox, headlined by top talents Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery. It was a bold move, especially considering the 6’6″ southpaw hadnât made a single big-league start before 2024 and was only two years away from free agency at the time.
However, there was a rumor that Crochet and his team had reasonable expectations for the extension before he left the White Sox, with MLB Trade Rumors citing Tyler Glasnow’s $136.5 million contract from the Dodgers as a benchmark.
âHis ability, his stuff, is just so good,â Boston general manager Craig Breslow told the Boston Globe this spring. âI think thereâs strong reason to believe that, because he just recently made the transition back to a starter, that heâs still got development in front of him, and heâs still got additional upside.â
No ‘No-Trade’ Clause, Other Wrinkles
Per Ian Browne of MLB.com, Crochetâs new deal has some interesting wrinkles. The agreement features up to $2 million annually in performance escalators from 2027 through 2031, tied directly to how he fares in Cy Young Award voting.
The contract does not include a no-trade clause, but Crochet is protected financially with a $2 million assignment bonus if heâs dealt at any point during the life of the agreement. As Browne points out, the contract now stands as the richest ever signed by a pitcher with just over four years of service time.
Crochet will take the mound for his second regular season start in a Red Sox uniform Wednesday night in Baltimore.
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