Pregame notes: All about Garrett

The Robbie Grossman-Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa swap from May notwithstanding, the White Sox have made no trades yet, and the dam might not break Friday night. League sources indicate the Sox are doing what you might expect them to do: maintaining high asks on the presumption that it's a seller's market and desperation will set in closer to Tuesday afternoon.

As with all things 2024 White Sox, you are only reading these words if forces beyond your control are forcing you to simply wait and see how it unfolds.

-- In the intervening hours, that allows media focus to remain 100 percent on Garrett Crochet.

A source confirmed that should Crochet be traded to a contender, the left-hander and his representation seek a contract extension in order to waive workload limits that would otherwise be disqualifying for him pitching in and through the postseason in October. With Crochet's combination of a non-existent track record as a starter before this season and dominant performance since joining the rotation this year making valuation on an extension especially tricky, it will now take a hugely aggressive last minute move from a deep-pocketed contender to see him moved before Tuesday's trade deadline.

Crochet obliged to media interest and spoke to a scrum of reporters on Friday, but wasn't interested in walking through what's been reported in any detail.

"No comment," Crochet said when asked to confirm if the reports on the subject are accurate. "Right now I'm focused on pitching for the White Sox and beyond that I'm really not controlling much."

That approach extended to pondering if Sunday's scheduled outing against the Mariners, which Pedro Grifol said should once again be in the 75-pitch range, will be his last in a White Sox uniform.

"If I think about it too much or really deviate from my routine then I'm doing exactly that--I'm deviating from my routine and I'm not ready for my start. With my starts being the most important thing for me right now, I think it helps me to flush all that stuff out."

If there's something in the reporting that Crochet will absolutely speak to, it's the wondrous benefits that moving to the rotation has had on his health and his stuff. He professes to be a lot happier and healthier on a routine that has him starting every five days and throwing his between starts bullpen two days afterward. Enough so that Crochet sounds optimistic of making more 100-pitch outings later this season. Obviously if the right offer comes along, he would be happy to.

"For me it’s being able to structure my workouts accordingly," Crochet said. "Touching the mound that second day, I found it works pretty well for me. A lot of guys I know like to go Day 3. But just the structure of it, I think it’s really added a lot of benefits to my health and to my stuff overall maintaining throughout the length of a whole season."

As far as maintaining his stuff and routine out of a bullpen role, it seems clear that Crochet feels the track record speaks for itself.

"I just felt like I had the ability to [start] but was never given the opportunity. I mean, I had four IL stints coming out of the pen, so it was just like, let’s finally get to try [starting] before I close that door altogether."

Anyone who has worked out of a major league bullpen for a full season or two, provided they trusted that they weren't going to be labeled as a whiner and have their reputation pilloried, will tell you that the irregular work routine is unforgiving. In one specific way, swearing off the health risks of pitching out of the bullpen is like demanding a contract extension if you and your bargain bin salary are about to be leveraged for a blockbuster trade: most players would do it if they felt like they could.

-- Since Crochet is not actually pitching Friday night, here's some Brian Bannister on Drew Thorpe.

"There's a hidden arm action there that was one of the things I liked. Kind of Lucas Giolito-style, you see Kutter Crawford with Boston, that hand comes out of the back of the head, it's harder to see. It's something I look for in pitchers with really, really good changeups is they hide the ball. It doesn't give the batter additional visual information that a changeup is coming.

We can all see that the batted-ball luck's been favorable so far [.164 BABIP!]. But to his credit, he really goes out there and wants to be an elite pitcher, he understands sequencing, he knows how to pitch. His routine in the bullpen, it looks like a 10-year veteran already. So I give him a lot of credit to his poise, his ability to execute, his ability to bounce back from a bad outing and really go out there and give us six-plus innings, which really every starting pitcher is struggling to do nowadays."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Mariners

TV: NBCSCH

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