Proposed Mets trade package for 2024 breakout ace would be too tempting to pass on

There are some mock trades where you know only one team’s needs were taken into account. Then there are others so insanely long it stops making sense at all and players are just getting added in for the sake of filling roster spots. Easily the most discussed trade candidate this offseason will be breakout ace Garrett Crochet whose presence on the Chicago White Sox is peculiar given how awful they were in 2024. Each time his name comes up as a trade candidate, the New York Mets aren’t far behind.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report put together a package for multiple teams. He’s just that much of a fit. For the Mets, it’s three players sent to the Chicago farm system. This is a trade with some sting to it yet tempting all at the same time.

This Mets trade isn’t too good to be true which is why it’s probably as realistic as it gets

Kudos to Miller for putting together a trade package where the reaction of Mets fans is difficult to predict. Fans of all teams tend to hug their prospects a little too tightly. In this instance, the biggest blow comes from the loss of Jett Williams.

Williams had an amazing 2023 campaign in the minors. He launched his way into becoming the number one Mets prospect heading into 2024. An early season wrist injury pretty much washed away any chance of him getting elevated much higher. His future remains bright even if his position on the field is an unknown. Second base and center field are about it. The Mets already have Luisangel Acuna in the same exact boat plus Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, and others looking to find their place.

The inclusion of Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong will have fans biting their lips a little, too. Each of them had a good year in 2024 (McLean only on the mound). In fact, other than Brandon Sproat, there probably wasn’t a minor league Mets pitcher more fun to follow than Tong whose performance seemed to come from out of nowhere. Selling high on him and including McLean in the deal helps make this a more complete trade package for one of the rising young pitchers in the game.

Crochet turns 26 next June and would immediately need to be extended by the Mets to the most of his trade. Despite having only 219 big league innings, he is a free agent after the 2026 campaign. First drafted back in 2017 by David Stearns as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 34th round, Crochet passed on being a late-round high school draft pick and instead went to college to become the 11th overall pick in 2020.

If you’re someone who enjoys connecting pieces of red string via tacks to solve octopus-level conspiracies, you’ll enjoy knowing Stearns was the first GM to draft Crochet.