Dombrowski discusses why Phillies didn’t trade for Crochet originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
DALLAS — The Phillies made a strong run at ascending left-hander Garrett Crochet at the 2024 trade deadline but couldn’t complete a deal with the White Sox, and on Wednesday Crochet was finally moved, going to Boston for four of the Red Sox top prospects.
Given the cost, it’s not surprising that the Phillies didn’t find common ground with the White Sox this week. Crochet now comes with one fewer year of control which should have reduced the cost, but the trade market for him was more plentiful than it was in July, intensifying the competition.
The Phillies don’t want to trade their top two prospects, shortstop Aidan Miller and right-hander Andrew Painter. Not for a player with just two years of control like Crochet, and probably not for a player who fits better but has just one year of control remaining like Kyle Tucker. The Astros outfielder has drawn significant trade interest this winter for obvious reasons — when healthy, he’s one of the top 10 position players in the game.
“Well, you always weigh those things. I’ve been there before, done it before,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Wednesday afternoon of the Crochet trade.
“Not sure it was the right time for us to do that right now and I think there’s a few reasons behind that. One is that (the White Sox) got a nice group of players, from what I read. We have four quality starting pitchers and a young pitcher coming right behind him that we really like a whole bundle.
“To give up that type of talent … we really rode out the development of our farm system over the last few years and we’re just getting to the point of having the impact of those guys. It’s not quite here but we’re on the verge of having some really good young, homegrown players.
“And there’s two years of service. You could sign the player long-term but there’s only two years. I’ve done that before so I’m not knocking it, I just don’t think it’s the right time for us to do that.”
The Phillies are more interested in graduating Painter and Miller to the majors and having them help for six, eight, 10 years or more. That’s how you build a long-term winner, by injecting young talent onto an already established and successful roster.
“Our number one priority is always to win but I can’t tell you that it’s always to win at any cost because you’ve got other guys you really do like,” Dombrowski said. “For…