Prepare yourselves for a marvel.
There’s something a little poetic about the Red Sox trading for Garrett Crochet at the same moment Gerrit Cole’s Yankees career finally falls apart due to injury — and not just Rafael Devers. The law of conservation of “Garretts,” if you will. Crochet immediately becomes the best pitcher in the division and Boston’s best hurler since Chris Sale. Most importantly, it gives us a reason to believe again. Maybe not that that the Sox will win the World Series in 2025, but in a something that has been missing since the Astros defeated the Red Sox in the 2021 ALCS.
That said, I don’t think the best comparison for Crochet is Sale, despite the structural similarities of their bodies, skill sets, and the terms of their trade from the White Sox. The precedent here is Pedro Martinez, who, like Crochet, joined the Red Sox for his age-26 season off of a blisteringly good year. Pedro won the Cy Young with Montreal; Crochet merely made the All-Star team and led the league in stirkeouts-per-nine, strikeout percentage, strikeout-to-walk ratio, and, xFIP. That’s close enough for government work, especially when Pedro’s standard is “literally the best to ever do it.”
The late 90’s Red Sox were frustrating both before and and after Pedro’s arrival — good enough to make the playoffs, not good enough to do serious damage in them — but they were 100 times more fun once he alit. For our purposes, here in March, Opening Day and every turn in the rotation afterward was appointment television, and we’re getting closer to that first game, and our first taste, of the new guy.
If we’re excited, I daresay we’re not nearly excited enough. Crochet, not other newcomer Alex Bregman, is going to be the guy to electrify the Fenway fans, and I’m not sure we realize the phenomenon he’s about to be. It reminds me of Thor creating Stormbreaker, in that we’re about to harness the full force of a star:
All that happened after that was one of the coolest movie theater moments in recent memory, which I will share simply because I want to watch it again but also because yes, this is what getting Pedro was really like, and shows the energy Crochet has the chance to bring:
I’ll be honest about this analogy: The baddie aliens attacking our heroes are not entirely unlike the steady stream of doubts I’ve had about the Red Sox organization over the past few years, having long since breached the outer perimeter of my defenses and closed in on the essence of my fandom. It’s been very bad and turned me negative in ways I don’t like but cannot help.
Now the help is finally here, just as the Evil Empire falls apart. The American League is wide open, and not just our division. The whole damn thing. Crochet is the single most important player on the Red Sox, and while that’s a little scary for a guy who has never pitched 150 innings in a season, it’s more exciting than it is frightening. The Yankees are in our sights, and with Crochet on board, it’s time to aim for the head.