That's not the strategy though. They face the top of the order for the third time in the vast majority of all of their starts (Bello, Crawford, Houck, Giolito in 2023).
I've never visited the arcane world of MLB arbitration so it's hard to say one way or the other. They still have time to come to agreement before it gets that far.
No different than every ARB negotiation. An increase now has a cascading impact on ARB years 2, 3 and 4. They are trying to save money on all 4 years, not just 2025.
If Crochett is going to walk because he won't sign a Cole deal, I wouldn't agree to an opt out after '27. It provides protection for him and screws over the Red Sox if he has a career ending injury. Might as well make it a mutual option so the Sox can get out of it. Breslow needs to nut up and give an offer that is good enough that he doesn't feel like he needs to test the market.