Reds' strike out on top trade target following Red Sox-White Sox blockbuster

The Cincinnati Reds rotation will have to do (for now). According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Boston Red Sox are finalizing a deal that will send catching prospect Kyle Teel (and others) to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for left-handed starter Garrett Crochet. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic later chimed in with the full details of the trade that also include outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth and right-hander Wikelman Gonzalez.

The Reds were rumored to be in the mix for Crochet, but those talks cooled after Cincinnati acquired Brady Singer from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer.

Reds' strike out on top trade target following Red Sox-White Sox blockbuster

The Reds always felt like an odd fit for Crochet given the depth in their starting rotation. But continuous reports kept linking Cincinnati to the South Siders, and the idea of adding the lefty became more and more plausible. But in the end, Crochet will be headed to Beantown for a trade package headlined by some of Boston's top, young players.

This is quite the haul for the White Sox, and it shows exactly what the Reds would have had to surrender in order to complete a trade for Crochet. Both Teel and Montgomery are former first-round picks who are rank among the top-100 prospects in baseball. This would be akin to Cincinnati surrendering the likes of Chase Burns and Cam Collier as the headliners in a trade package ticketed for Chicago. Some other top-20 organizational prospects would've been included in the deal as well.

While missing out on Crochet hurts, the Reds still have a stacked rotation heading to Goodyear next spring. Nick Martinez, Hunter Greene, and Rhett Lowder finished the year on the active roster, and the Reds expect the likes of Nick Lodolo, Graham Ashcraft, and Andrew Abbott to return from injury. Throw in Chase Petty, Connor Phillips, and the aforementioned Singer and Burns, and this Reds rotation looks scary even without Crochet.

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