Anyone who’s read this site for awhile knows you’ll get strong opinions on players from me. But those opinions aren’t written in stone. Two offseasons ago, the Mets acquired Tommy Pham and immediately my opinion formed that he wasn’t any good. Yet, his play eventually demanded that opinion of mine to change, so much so that before he was inserted into the starting lineup, there was a piece here suggesting that the Mets increase his role.
You have to be flexible with your opinions and change them when enough evidence materializes. Now, this doesn’t mean that a 3-5 day or an 0-5 outing means you change your tune. There has to be a reasonable sample size. Luisangel Acuna doesn’t hit in 754 PA in the minors – you don’t throw that away because he has a .455 BABIP in his first five games in the majors. And, sure enough, after that hot start, Acuna batted .185 in his next 28 PA with a .200 BABIP.
Which brings us to Jett Williams.
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The article offers 9.23 and 4.45 as Crochet’s strikeout rates, home and away respectively. Those are wrong. The K rates were 13.67 and 11.61, respectively.
There was a reason why Crochet wasn’t traded in July, and it wasn’t because the Wihite Sox wanted to hold onto him. Getz needs to hit a homerun and so both Robert and Crochet weren’t dealt. But, Crochet’s injury history has both him and the ChiSox so spooked that he insisted upon an extension in order to pitch in the playoffs and Getz pretty much barely pitched him after the deadline. There is no way such an injury history will get the White Sox a huge haul, and I saw Zack Scott say Williams, Mauricio, Gilbert, and some other name that I just don’t remember.
Williams seems special. Gilbert is above average across the board without anything elite except for heart. Mauricio has talent but lacks plate discipline. Acuna is expected to be a backup. Clifford seems to equal Jay Bruce. Gilbert equals Lenny Dykstra. Acuna equals Roger Cedeno.
As Crochet doesn’t have a track record and seems to be pretty fragile, I’d give up Acuna, Baty, and Gilbert for Crochet. You can’t empty out your farm system for a question mark.
You are correct about the K/9 numbers.
I meant to say K/BB, instead, and that has been updated on the article. Thanks for the correction.
As for Crochet not being traded at the deadline, my opinion is that teams were hesitant to offer very much for him because there were huge worries about if he would be able to pitch major innings – both down the stretch and in the playoffs – given his massive increase in innings.
He escaped 2024 without injury. It’s a reasonable opinion to think that it’s 2025 when those innings catch up to him. But that’s not my take.
I like him too, but Snell and Sasaki are ahead of him on my preference meter. Probably Manaea too. How much can Crochet go up, and will he be available for the playoffs if the Mets are fortunate enough to be there?