An emergency Phillies-White Sox trade to keep competition away from Garrett Crochet

The Los Angeles Dodgers fired the first shot of the 2024 MLB offseason, signing two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract on Tuesday night. (And because this is the Dodgers we're talking about, of course the deal featured plenty of deferrals to make the financial math a little easier.)

It's a heck of a statement of intent from a team that just rolled to a World Series title, addressing its biggest question mark by adding an All-Star to an already loaded roster. And it should send a shiver down the spine of any team looking for a rotatoin upgrade this winter, whose list of available options just shrank. Especially if that team also calls the National League home, and knows they'll have to get through the Dodgers to reach the World Series in 2025.

The Philadelphia Phillies check both of the above boxes, and the Snell signing affects their offseason as much as anyone in the league. Earlier this week, it was reported that Dave Dombrowski had engaged the Chicago White Sox about a trade for their All-Star lefty, Garrett Crochet. Which makes plenty of sense; without a ton of payroll wiggle room to work with, moving salary is the team's quickest path to a major upgrade this winter, and Crochet has more upside than any other potential trade target.

There's just one problem: Plenty of other teams find themselves in the same situation, and with Snell now off the board, the competition to land Crochet figures to ratchet up without another left-handed alternative on the market. If Dombrowski wants to close this deal and keep pace with L.A., he's going to have to up the ante and give Chicago GM Chris Getz what he wants — and this package is the place to start.

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Phillies need to make White Sox an offer they can't refuse for Garrett Crochet

The White Sox have been open about wanting position player talent in return for Crochet, and the Phillies first approached Chicago about a package centered around third baseman Alec Bohm — whose sketchy second half has the team hoping for an upgrade at the hot corner, especially with just two years of team control remaining — and top outfield prospect Justin Crawford. But the same reasons why Philly wants to move on from Bohm have apparently given Chicago pause, and it sounds like a good-not-great player who doesn't fit the timeline of the White Sox rebuild might not be the trae chip the Phillies had hoped.

So if Philly wants to get this deal done, it's going to have to sweeten the pot. In addition to Bohm and Crawford, this deal features the addition of young shortstop Starlyn Caba, the crown jewel of the team's 2023 international free agent class and arguably its best position-player prospect. An outstanding defender with a slashy switch-hitting swing, losing Caba would hurt a bit. But it's a blow that the Phillies can and should be willing to afford: Caba is still just 18, with major question marks around his bat after hitting just .228/.385/.284 across two levels of the low Minors in 2024.

The White Sox can afford to take a swing on his continued to development, hoping that he'll be ready to contribute by the time the team is next ready to contend in three or four years. Philly can't wait that long; the team's competitive window is right now, while Bryce Harper and Trea Turner are still in their primes and Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler have something left in the tank. And Chicago can even make it worth the Phillies' while, using their payroll space to eat Taijuan Walker's ugly contract in exchange for more young talent.

Hollowing out the farm system like this will certainly hurt. But unless the Phillies are willing to simply concede the Harper era outright, they need to be willing to take big swings, even ones that are painful. And with Snell gone and teams like the Boston Red Sox sniffing around Crochet, they can't feel confident in waiting Chicago out.