Sox's Crochet likely to have Tommy John surgery, miss entire season
The White Sox lost two relief pitchers on Friday.
Craig Kimbrel was traded to the Dodgers, which was good news for the Sox.
The bad news?
Garrett Crochet injured his left elbow pitching in an exhibition game against the Reds Thursday night and is likely going to have surgery and miss the season.
"The preliminary MRI reading is not great," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told reporters. "There appears to be some damage to the ligament, which very likely will require Tommy John surgery. That said, this is preliminary and he is going to seek out a second opinion here in the coming days."
The Sox's first-round draft pick in 2020, Crochet made it to the majors later that year and pitched 6 scoreless innings out of the bullpen while recording 8 strikeouts.
Last season, Crochet made 54 relief appearances for the White Sox and was 3-5 with a 2.82 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 54⅓ innings.
"If you want to take the glass half full side of things, at least from a timing standpoint with regards to any Tommy John surgery, using the very generic approximate 11-to-13-month recovery for a reliever we should have him back for the 2023 season, if that is the case," Hahn said.
New deal for Giolito:
A little over a week ago, Lucas Giolito was frustrated about failing to reach a contract agreement with the Sox and was preparing for an arbitration hearing.
"Honestly, I love this team," Giolito said on March 23. "For it to come down to a 50K difference prior to the filing, it's like, 'Come on.' It's an upsetting part of the process. It's why a lot of us don't enjoy the business side of the process. You want to enjoy the fun stuff, but I guess that's just part of the process."
On Friday, Giolito and the White Sox agreed on a one-year, $7.45 million contract.
"I was upset initially on deadline day," Giolito said. "But being able to have full communication and talking it through with Jerry (Reinsdorf) made a huge difference. Overall, it was such a positive getting to know each other better and understanding both sides of the situation."