Trading Garrett Crochet still likely offseason scenario for White Sox

On the day left-hander Hagen Smith — the White Sox’ first-round draft pick in July — threw out the first pitch at Guaranteed Rate Field, the odds of All-Star left-hander Garrett Crochet being in a Sox uniform next season never seemed smaller.

The Sox are rebuilding, Crochet has two years of contract control left and he likely won’t be signing an extension. The Sox won’t want to spend the big money it might take to keep Crochet when his contract expires.

While saying Crochet being named the Sox’ Opening Day starter was the highlight of 2024, general manager Chris Getz on Monday suggested he will be traded before next season.

‘‘The reality of baseball and where we’re at as an organization, you need to look at the types of return you could potentially get in trades,’’ Getz said before the Sox fell to 33-112 with a 5-3 loss to the Guardians at Guaranteed Rate Field, where Guardians left-hander Joey Cantillo opened with 6‰ perfect innings. ‘‘We need to weigh where we’re going to be in a year or two years, but we also know how talented he is, and he can certainly lead a rotation with the White Sox or anyone else. So we’re going to take advantage of what he’s capable of doing as a starter. But also it’s wise to see what the market holds for Garrett Crochet to see if we can improve the White Sox for the future.’’

If there’s a strength in the Sox’ farm system, it’s in their pitching, specifically with 2022 first-round left-hander Noah Schultz and Smith, who could ease the sting of parting with Crochet.

‘‘We feel really good about the pitching development and our infrastructure,’’ Getz said. ‘‘We’re going to continue to nurture that and figure out how to get this club better.’’

It’s hard to see the Sox being better without Crochet next season, but Getz is looking beyond 2025, which might be another 100-loss season. Look how bad the Sox are with Crochet right now.

‘‘It’s not a player we’re actively shopping,’’ Getz said. ‘‘Obviously, there’s a lot of interest in Garrett Crochet because of what he can do on the mound. We’ll wrap up this year, get into the offseason and kind of go from there.’’

The Sox can’t wrap up this season fast enough. They set a franchise record with their 13th loss in a row at home. David Fry and Bo Naylor homered for the Guardians, and the Sox put on a ragged defensive performance and struck 10 times against Cantillo (1-3, 5.96 ERA) in the first seven innings. Andrew Benintendi broke up the perfecto with a single with two outs in the seventh.

The American League record for most losses in a season in the modern era belongs to the 2003 Tigers, who went 43-119. The major-league record belongs to the 1962 Mets, who were 40-120. The Sox need a 10-7 finish to avoid tying the Mets.

‘‘If you would have told me we were going to end up flirting with the record, I would have been a little surprised,’’ Getz said. ‘‘Now, if you would have told me prior to the year that we would have ended up with over 100 losses — 105, 110 — I wouldn’t have been as surprised. But this is the cards that we’ve been dealt at this point. You try to make the best of it, and I think it’s an opportunity to embrace the situation that we’re in.’’

Aside from Benintendi breaking up the perfect game and Bryan Ramos’ first career home run in the eighth, there was nothing to embrace about the game. Shortstop Jacob Amaya booted a double-play grounder, third baseman Miguel Vargas overran a foul pop-up and the Guardians stole five bases.

‘‘We could have done some things better,’’ interim manager Grady Sizemore said. ‘‘Missed a couple of opportunities defensively where we didn’t make the play. . . . Those cost us runs and would have made it easier to stay in the game.’’