White Sox ace Garrett Crochet amid trade speculation: 'A wise person once told me that every time you take the mound, you're playing for every team in the league'

CHICAGO (670 The Score) – The fact that numerous MLB teams covet left-hander Garrett Crochet on the trade market is no surprise to Crochet himself or White Sox brass.

The 25-year-old Crochet has been one of the most dominant pitchers in MLB in 2024, leading everyone with 146 strikeouts while posting a 3.08 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 105 1/3 innings across 19 starts. For his stellar performance in his first season as a big league starter, Crochet was recently rewarded with his first All-Star honor.

As the MLB-worst White Sox continue to struggle, the questions surrounding the Crochet are two-fold. Will the club trade him away before the deadline on July 30? And how big of a workload can he carry in the second half of the season as he has already logged the most innings of his professional career?

Those two questions are at least loosely connected, because his role on a potential new team would affect what it's willing to part with in a trade. Crochet is under contract control through the 2026 season.

"All 30 teams want Garrett Crochet,” White Sox manager Pedo Grifol said Monday. “That includes the Chicago White Sox. But there is a business side to all of this. I think as far as keeping him, I think all 30 teams would want to do that. It is not good business to shut those doors (on trade talks). That is not my job, but you have to see what it is (offered). My job is down here, and I will let those guys handle that job.”

The White Sox front office has meetings planned this week for how the club should approach the trade deadline. In the end, the decision on whether to trade or retain Crochet will be made by general manager Chris Getz.

Meanwhile, rival teams are pondering how they would use Crochet if they acquired him. To keep his workload down, a club with playoff and championship aspirations could skip a series of starts or move him to the bullpen for the rest of 2024, as one American League talent evaluator said.

Crochet’s 105 1/3 innings mark, by far, the biggest workload of his MLB career. Crochet had logged a total of 73 innings in his first three MLB seasons. He missed the entire 2022 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The White Sox understand that it will be wise to scale back Crochet's workload in the final months of the season.

“You just can't overlook the fact he has exceeded his innings pitched by probably 70-plus already from last year,” Grifol said. “So this will be an organizational discussion here very shortly. People are working on this subject right now. We must help him build. You just can't go from zero to 100 that easily. This is a tough one to figure out because he looks like he can (keep going). I just don't think that is the right route to go.”

For his part, Crochet does hear the external noise about his future.

"I pay attention to it and hear it all the time,” Crochet said of trade rumors. “I still must perform. A wise person once told me that every time you take the mound, you're playing for every team in the league. That is just the fact of the matter. You never know what can happen in this business. The rest is out of my control.”

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine .