Orioles should be out of Garret Crochet sweepstakes thanks to outrageous stipulation

On Thursday morning, Jon Heyman of the NY Post reported that White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet plans to remain in a starting role throughout the rest of the season. There had been talk about him potentially moving to the bullpen thanks to concerns about blowing past his previous innings total, but Crochet put those rumors to bed.

According to the report, Crochet believes that remaining in his current capacity is the best thing for his long term health. It's tough to suggest otherwise since MLB teams have long been trying to reduce pitcher injuries by limiting workloads, but have found little success in doing so.

Crochet's name had been floating around the trade market for the past couple months. He's thus far been one of the best starters in the majors in 2024 and thanks to an absurdly low $800k salary in his first year of arbitration, he'll be exceedingly cheap for the next two years.

Crochet won't reach free agency until after the 2026 season and he could make less than $10 million combined over the course of the next two years. That low payroll figure was a massive point of intrigue for teams competing for his services on the trade market.

While Crochet doesn't have a track record of health or success beyond the past four months, everything about his performance in 2024 looks real. Because of that, MLB insiders were suggesting that the return for him would be significant in terms of prospect capital.

Garrett Crochet demanding contract extension in exchange for postseason availability

However, Heyman's report also included the nugget that Crochet is looking for a contract extension. Not only that, but he seems to be withholding his services for the 2024 postseason unless a team wants to pony up the cash up front.

It's unclear what a player of Crochet's caliber and track record would be worth to a team in need of a playoff starter. It's likely that Crochet will want his new team to buy out several free agent years at a significant cost. And to be clear, good on him for trying to maximize his potential earnings. He's vastly underpaid right now, regardless of how he's performed in the past.

Despite that though, his demands for a contract extension will almost certainly kill his trade value. A big part of the draw for teams is the ability to get a good pitcher at a great value. If Crochet's mindset is that he's refusing to break his innings cap, even in the event that he'd give a team a chance to win in October, teams will dial back the interest level significantly.

Since the Orioles specifically need a pitcher who can start games in October, this stipulation should take them out of the Crochet sweepstakes entirely. Barring a freak collapse, the O's should be able to get to October. What they need is a guy who can pitch behind Corbin Burnes in a playoff series.

If the ask increases from substantial prospect capital to include a large contract extension as well, especially for a guy with major question marks surrounding his ability to stay healthy, the smartest thing for the Orioles to do is hang up the phone and move on to the next option. Maybe that calculus changes in the offseason but the Orioles must stay away from Crochet at the deadline this year.