SAN ANTONIO – The weakest offense in baseball has little in the way of impact hitting prospects in the farm system offering help on the way from below. And so general manager Chris Getz’ targeted area of greatest need when dangling left-hander Garrett Crochet in trades this offseason is plainly obvious.
“We are focusing on position-player return,” Getz said Tuesday at the general managers meetings. “That is our primary focus in any trade talks. The right players have to be there. We can’t force anything. We certainly need to improve our offense. That is very clear. With any trade discussion or free agency we’re looking for ways to improve our offense.”
The Sox’ supply of young pitching is greater with Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, both first-round draft picks who rate 1-2, respectively, among left-handed pitching prospects per MLB.com (16th and 30th overall), is greater. But the temptation to use one in a deal for offense is being contained.
“Those are considerations at times, but right now, I feel like we’re in a position that we still want to add even on the arm front,” Getz said. “Even though we do feel like that’s a strength of the organization. We know that injuries are part of the pitching development, unfortunately. So now do we feel really good about our pitching in general and certainly the lefties, of course, that could be really excited for the comig years with some of these arms. There could be a point in the future that we’ve got to consider moving some of those for bats just to balance out our roster.”
But maybe not now. Other GMs have inquired about Crochet since last season and are in Getz’ ear and text message chains now.
“A long list of teams have expressed interest,” Getz said.
Crochet, who has two years of team control left and figures to make around $3 million in arbitration this season, posted a 3.58 ERA, an even better 2.69 FIP (fielding independent) mark and a major league best 35% strikeout rate. With a few major league pre-arbitration players on their roster and a stockpile of top Triple-A prospects including outfielder Roman Anthony (No. 3 per MLB Pipeline), shortstop Marcelo Mayer (No. 7) and middle infielder/outfielder Kristian Campbell (No. 10), the Red Sox are a potential trade partner.
Perhaps new director of hitting Ryan Fuller, 34, can have an impact on what the Sox already have. Maybe Luis Robert, Andrew Benentendi and Andrew Vaugh will have better and healthy first halves in 2025. Let’s say third baseman Miguel Vargas, who hit .105 after he was acquired in the trade that cost Getz Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech and Tommy Pham, will add needed strength in the offseason and hit like the player Getz thought he was getting.
“He’s working on adding strength,” Getz said. “When he came over, he leaned out a little bit. That affected his ability to compete in the box and he’s certainly focused on building his body back up to be able to do the damage that he’s done in the past.”
The Sox’ top position-player prospect, left-handed hitting shortstop Colson Montgomery, digressed at Triple-A Charlotte but will go to spring training on the heels of some rejuvenation in the Arizona Fall League. Fingers are crossed he can have an impact in the major league lineup.
“A really, really solid AFL,” Getz said. “There was a lot of looseness in his swing. He was aggressive, he was driving the ball to all fields. He was staying behind the baseball. It looked like the Colson that we were accustomed to watching and for him to finish the way he did was great for him to give him that confidence going to the offseason and build towards spring training, because we want to position him well to be part of the 26-man roster at some point.”
Everyone in the organization bowed over in pain from the 121-loss punch in the gut. They winced when Montgomery struggled right along from hundreds miles away. It was that kind of year.
“These are the pains everyone felt that are a part of a rebuild,” Getz said. “Unfortunately you have to endure some of the pain. But you have to know better days are ahead.”
Fans can only hope.