During the current offseason, there have been many trade rumors regarding the Philadelphia Phillies and the possibility of them landing the ace of the Chicago White Sox in starter Garrett Crochet. Not only would Crochet automatically slot into the Phillies rotation, but he also has the potential to join Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola as their new three-headed monster that would present headaches to teams around the league.
However, what happens if Crochet doesn’t get traded to the Phillies? To make matters worse, what if Crochet gets moved to a legitimate contender that could directly affect the Phillies’ chances of capturing a championship title?
Buster Olney of ESPN outlined a few teams around the league aside from the Phillies that could do exactly that, which would be a total nightmare scenario that Philadelphia will hope to avoid. Let’s take a look at four potential trade destinations for the 25-year-old left-hander that could destroy the Phillies’ World Series plans.
4 Garrett Crochet trade destinations that would destroy Phillies’ World Series plans
New York Mets
With all the recent rumblings in the free agent market, it appears as though the New York Mets are already gaining traction in their pursuit of top free agent Juan Soto. The last thing the Phillies would want is for their division rival to also pursue one of the best up-and-coming pitchers in the league available in the trade market at the same time.
The Mets starting five lost two of its members this offseason, as both Luis Severino and Sean Manaea declined their qualifying offers to enter free agency. In potentially adding Crochet, it would offset that loss tremendously. He would join the Mets' rotation which currently has potential starters Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill and David Peterson, along with deadline acquisition Paul Blackburn all under contract for the 2025 season.
The Phillies already had to suffer a disappointing finish to the end of their 2024 campaign at the hands of those pesky Mets in the NLDS. If New York manages the improbable to land both Soto and Crochet, the Phillies' reign as NL East champions could be over as quickly as 2025, with the Mets' potential big-time upgrades this offseason. Those upgrades would no doubt instantly make them into World Series favorites as a result.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves have been a daunting juggernaut in the NL East which the Phillies have had to deal with for the past decade. Atlanta has certainly dominated, especially with their run of six straight division titles from 2018 to 2023, before Philadelphia finally upstaged them this past season. The Braves also recently captured the World Series championship in 2021, their second in franchise history since their move to Atlanta.
On top of that, they currently already have one of the best difference-makers in the game today in star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. With ace Spencer Strider and the now reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale in the mix, adding Crochet could bring back the Greg Maddux-John Smoltz-Tom Glavine vibes that helped lead the Braves in their glory days back in the 1990s.
The only difference this time around is the current trio would be even scarier with their tremendous strikeout ability. Crochet would also make the potential loss of Max Fried to free agency negligible as a result. The Braves have proven time and time again, even when they were constantly met with adversity by having a whole boatload of injuries, that they can still persevere and remain legitimate perennial contenders each season.
If the Phillies didn’t have enough of that already, making the resilient Braves that much stronger with the addition of Crochet would be disastrous in Philadelphia's hope for championship success.
New York Yankees
If Crochet ends up with the New York Yankees, the good news is that he would remain in the American League so that the Phillies won’t need to deal with him on a regular basis. The bad news is that if the Phillies do end up making it all the way to the World Series once again, there is a high possibility that their opponent will be the Yankees.
That is because the Yankees are already an offensive juggernaut in the league, led by two-time and current AL MVP Aaron Judge. What makes them even scarier is if they can somehow retain Soto, they could even be the next Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris for New York.
But more importantly, by adding Crochet to join Gerrit Cole in their front end of the rotation, an area of weakness this past season would suddenly become an area of strength going forward. In doing so, it would make them instantly the American League version of the Los Angeles Dodgers. If one Dodgers-like team isn’t already enough for the Phillies to handle, the last thing they would want is to run the gauntlet to the World Series having to deal with two of such elite teams.
Los Angeles Dodgers
To be honest, the last possible place the Phillies or actually anyone would want Crochet to land is in Los Angeles with the Dodgers. They already have some enormous star power with the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto doing crazy things for the team.
Not only that, the Dodgers have finished first in the NL West in 11 of the past 12 seasons, along with being crowned World Series champions in two of the past five seasons (2020 and 2024). So to potentially make the rich even richer and the strong even stronger so that they would practically be unbeatable? That just won’t be fair to not just the Phillies but to every other team in the league.
As for the Dodgers, if they somehow make it come to fruition, they could potentially be building a true dynasty for the upcoming years ahead. Speculation is one thing, but what is the realistic likelihood of them landing Crochet in a trade? According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, even he believes that the Dodgers are actually among four teams with the strongest interest in acquiring Crochet. If that becomes the case, that could mean game, set and match for the Phillies for much of the near future.