Phillies reportedly shut down idea of including top prospect in trade for frontline starter

The Phillies’ focus is on the postseason for now, but when that’s over — whether it ends in glory or heartbreak — the next big question for them to solve is what to do with the 2025 rotation.

One of the pieces to that puzzle, at some point in the season, could be Andrew Painter. But that wouldn’t be the case if the Chicago White Sox had had their way.

According to a feature from ESPN‘s Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers — self-explanatorily titled “Inside the 2024 White Sox’s road to MLB’s all-time worst record” — Painter factored heavily into Chicago’s trade deadline aspirations, with Chris Getz’s front office requesting that Painter be included in a return from the Phillies for Garrett Crochet. The Phillies, according to the report, declined.

Surrounding the Crochet dialogue in late July was a demand from the southpaw’s camp for a contract extension with his theoretical new club if it wanted him to pitch in the postseason. Olney and Rogers reported that a few teams kept making offers even after that news came out, led by the Dodgers, Braves — and Phillies.

This isn’t to say that the Phillies should have dealt Painter for Crochet — in fact, the stance here is that they were right to refuse — but it’s fascinating to think about how the Phillies’ rotation would look ahead of the postseason with Crochet (and his October services, one way or another) on board. He’d presumably take Ranger Suárez’s spot in the rotation, but his postseason forecast wouldn’t have looked as sunny now (given his 5.71 second-half ERA) as it would’ve during trade season.

Crochet still has two years left of team control, so it’s not like the Phillies would’ve been trading their top prospect for a rental. But, whether the extension demand is reasonable or not, that request — coupled with the lack of a track record as a starter; Crochet’s first career start came on Opening Day — made him a relatively unknown entity. It’s tough to part with a talent like Painter, despite his own Tommy John history, for anyone, let alone someone with the uncertainty that tagged Crochet.

But perhaps the Phillies want to go back in on the Crochet market at a later date, either this offseason or next year’s trade deadline.

Maybe a 142-inning workload in 2024 will make acquiring teams want to give him that extension, increasing his trade value, or maybe the demand won’t apply anymore, also increasing his trade value. So maybe Painter remains a necessity for the White Sox in any Crochet-to-Philadelphia talks. And maybe the Phillies entertain it this time around. More likely, though, Dave Dombrowski and co. see Painter as untouchable, as was the case in July. It’s tough to argue they were wrong.