Will search for pitching lead O's to make a play for Garrett Crochet?

The Orioles losing streak reached five last night with another night of getting a short and ineffective outing from a starting pitcher. Over these five games the Orioles have allowed 40 runs.

With the Orioles and just about every other contending team in the majors in the market for starting pitching, it is natural to think about Chicago White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet.

The Orioles got an in-person look at the hard-throwing strikeout machine on May 26 at Guaranteed Rate Field. They got two runs off him over six innings, but he fanned 11 Orioles that day.

He looks great – both in person and on the stat sheet. He is under team control through the 2026 season so a team trading for him will have him for this year and two more.

That means the trade price may be extremely high. The O’s may have a farm system where they could be a good trade partner with Chicago. Someone I talked to recently who knows the trade winds better than most, thought the O’s could be in the hunt for Crochet in giving up only one of their top prospects. They would not need two of their premier prospects. But yeah, one big name would likely have to go in a bigger package of players.

We're assuming that Jackson Holliday is off limits but the club's next three highest-rated prospects, in some order, are Samuel Basallo, Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad.

In 17 starts this year, Crochet, who averages 96.9 mph on his fastball, is 6-6 with a 3.05 ERA. He is tough to hit as seen by an OPS against of .550 that ranks fifth in the AL. And Crochet’s 12.40 K rate per nine innings leads MLB.

What is not to like?

There is one potential big red flag. The former reliever, who threw just 25 innings last year between the majors and minors, is already at 94 1/3 innings this year. His previous most in a season was 65 as a college Sophomore. He missed all of the 2022 season after Tommy John surgery. White Sox manager Pedro Grifol told reporters Tuesday his club might begin to look at reducing and managing his season-innings load.

That innings number for this year for Crochet is a big concern for me and probably any GM out there. But on the other hand the guy is rolling right now with an ERA of 1.36 his past 10 starts.

With his talent, current pitching roll and team control, he’s probably as attractive a starting pitching out there. But again, the innings concern hovers over all of it.

If the Orioles acquired him over the next few weeks, how many more innings could you pack on that arm? And there must be concerns that his innings load this year (wherever it ends up) could impact his next couple of seasons.

But this former No. 11 overall pick by the White Sox in the 2020 draft has huge talent and good control too – a 1.9 walk rate comes with that blazing fastball and swing and miss cutter and slider.

On Tuesday night, in a 10-8 loss to Cleveland, lefty Cole Irvin allowed eight runs (four earned) and 10 hits over four innings. His ERA is 7.54 his past three starts.

The O's rotation is springing leaks right now and has gone a season-long eight straight games without a quality start. In that span, O's starters have gone in order 3 2/3, 4 2/3, 4 2/3, five, seven, five, 5 2/3 and four innings. The rotation ERA is 7.26 over these eight games with a WHIP of 1.789.

The Orioles offense was back hitting last night, producing four homers and eight runs but the team ERA is 7.71 during the losing streak.

Is this just a small bump in the road for the Orioles or are bigger issues at work? No doubt the team will be seeking pitching, but they also have to find a club motivated to deal right now and some clubs may want to wait until closer to next month's trading deadline.

For now, some losses and runs allowed are mounting and Birdland is getting nervous.