As Garrett Crochet’s trade status lingers prior to Tuesday night’s MLB trade deadline, one ex-baseball executive has an intriguing — if not controversial — take on what the White Sox could do.

Jim Bowden, the former Reds and Nationals general manager who now serves as a contributor for The Athletic and MLB Network, opined that Chicago could simply send Crochet down to the minors if it doesn’t deal him before the deadline at 6 p.m.

“Crochet has options so if they don’t trade him they can always option him to minors for the rest of the season and save the service time,” Bowden wrote on X. “In addition, may have more suitors in the offseason.”

However, the proposal was quickly met with backlash from baseball pundits and fans.

“Always good to see a former GM advocating for a 360 windmill slam dunk MLBPA grievance,” wrote YouTuber Foolish Baseball, whose post received over 1,100 likes.

“wtf” replied Fox Sports commentator Ben Verlander.

The 25-year-old southpaw has proven to be one of the best pitchers in baseball this year, posting a 3.23 ERA with a gaudy 12.59 strikeouts per nine innings while pitching a career-high 114 ⅓ innings.

Crochet, who is under control for 2 ½ more years, has long been viewed as the crown jewel of this deadline’s pitching crop, but recent controversy surrounding his prospective role may have extinguished his red-hot market.

While speaking to the media on Monday, White Sox GM Chris Getz wasn’t pleased that Crochet’s camp leaked his desire for an extension and load management rules in order to pitch in the postseason for a team he is traded to, nor that he wouldn’t consider a shift to the bullpen.

“The communication had been very strong between Garrett and I and his agency,” Getz said. “I was a little surprised and taken aback by how they went about it, considering I had a conversation with his agent the night before. That’s not exactly the tactic I would have taken, being a former player.”

Getz added that Crochet’s team’s message was “a bit hurtful, quite honestly.”

Bowden is correct that Crochet, 25, could be sent to the minors, as he has three options remaining.

But doing so would almost definitely invoke an aforementioned complaint from the Players Association, which strives to protect players — particularly against service time manipulation.

In 2022, former Cubs star Kris Bryant lost a grievance that suggested that he fell victim to such team control, which was intended to delay his free agency by one year.

Nonetheless, Bryant’s case helped inspire several layers of netting discouraging service time manipulation, including teams receiving extra draft picks if they promote burgeoning players by Opening Day.

Considering that Crochet hasn’t regularly been in the minor leagues since 2021 — and enjoying a career-best year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022 — the move would certainly ruffle feathers around the baseball, if not have longer-lasting legal implications.

In the shorter term, the White Sox — who dealt starter Erick Fedde, reliever Michael Kopech and outfielder Tommy Pham on Monday — have less than 24 hours to try and move Crochet or wait until the offseason to further explore the market.