The Garrett Crochet trade was supposed to be a hard winter decision for the White Sox. On Monday night in Cleveland, it looked like the foundation of a pennant run.
Chicago beat the Guardians, 4-3, at Progressive Field to take a 2-0 lead in the American League Division Series. One more win would send the White Sox to their first AL Championship Series since 2005, and the decisive swings belonged to Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth.
Quick facts
- Chicago holds a 2-0 edge in the best-of-five ALDS after its 4-3 win over Cleveland.
- Teel, Montgomery and Meidroth arrived from Boston in the December 11, 2024 Crochet trade.
- Montgomery’s two-run double in the sixth put Chicago ahead for good.
- Meidroth followed with an RBI single that provided the final margin.
- The fourth player acquired, right-hander Wikelman González, was claimed by Miami in August.
The trade came 663 days before this October moment. Boston received Crochet, while Chicago took back a catcher, a second baseman, a right fielder and González. The Red Sox held their season-ending media session Wednesday; the White Sox were still playing meaningful October baseball.
Teel started Chicago’s comeback in the fourth. Down 2-0, he opened the inning with a single that helped bring home the Sox’s first run.
His value has stretched beyond the bat. Teel entered the postseason with 117 Major League regular-season games, having lost considerable time to injuries this year, yet he has been handling a staff built around openers, bullpen games and shifting assignments.
Sean Burke, listed as the starter Monday, entered only after one out in the third inning. Teel has had to guide that kind of arrangement while preparing with pitching coaches and catcher Drew Romo, who is not on the active roster but remains involved in the club’s game planning.
Manager Will Venable called Teel exceptionally prepared, saying the catcher puts in work independently as well as alongside the staff and teammates. For a young club asking pitchers to cover innings in unconventional ways, that steadiness behind the plate matters.
The sixth inning carried the larger trade-return stamp. Montgomery, batting right-handed against Cleveland lefty Erik Sabrowski, came up with two aboard and two outs. He drove a double into right field, bringing in both runners and turning Chicago’s deficit into a lead.
Montgomery has battled from the right side, posting a .430 OPS in those situations, but Venable said the switch-hitter has continued to work at both sides of the plate. The manager called the double a major swing from a player committed to improving.
It was another big-league jolt from Montgomery, who became the fifth player in MLB history to hit a walk-off homer in his Major League debut in June. At the time of the Crochet deal, he ranked No. 54 among the game’s prospects.
Meidroth did not let Cleveland settle after Montgomery’s double. Facing Hunter Gaddis, he lined a single to right to score the run that ultimately decided the game.
Meidroth has added more power to his strong defensive game and was among baseball’s top second basemen during the regular season. He was No. 11 in Boston’s farm system when the deal was made, and he brought visible energy to the moment as he sprinted from the box after his hit.
Teel, the marquee name in the package and then the No. 25 overall prospect, said the three former Boston farmhands share a connection. He also credited Chicago’s development system for helping them improve after the move.
General manager Chris Getz said the organization believed in the return when it moved Crochet and feels even better now. He noted that all three position players have delivered through the season as well as in October.
That outcome was never guaranteed. Chicago dealt Crochet after a historically rough 2024 season, recognizing that the left-hander’s emergence as an ace did not match the club’s timeline. Despite injury-limited time on the mound, Crochet had already accumulated four years of Major League service.
Prospect trades often leave teams with little to show for the pain of moving a proven talent. A review at this year’s Trade Deadline found that 76.2% of MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects traded had produced fewer than 5 career bWAR.
Chicago has avoided that familiar trap. After three consecutive 100-loss seasons, the White Sox are one victory from the ALCS, with the core of the Crochet return sitting squarely in the middle of their biggest October win.
Getz said trade decisions can bring regrets, but the process behind them is what matters. The White Sox took their chance on Teel, Meidroth and Montgomery. On a loud night in Cleveland, those three made the chance look like a turning point.
