After an abysmal 2022 campaign for Lucas Giolito, should the White Sox still consider signing him to a long term deal?
The same can be said about various White Sox players on the roster in regards to their performance this season. However, for a player like Giolito that is supposedly seeking an extremely large amount of money in the near future, his performance this year leaves much in doubt.
With very few games left in the season, Giolito has posted an atrocious 5.05 ERA over 28 starts, with a WHIP of 1.47. Giolito has struck out 167 on the year over 149.2 innings pitched. What is truly concerning is that this will be the first time in 3 years that Giolito will finish with an ERA over 3.53.
A reason why could be that he has given up over 24 home runs in 4 of his last 5 seasons. Perhaps in past seasons, many of those home runs were solo shots whereas this year more runners were on base.
Is the solution to let Lucas Giolito go?
Although Giolito’s 2022 season was largely disappointing, it is certainly still possible the White Sox still extend him to a new contract. Letting him go to test free agency with other clubs seems a bit too extreme at this point. If the White Sox offer him a contract it will likely be a much shorter term deal than he would like.
After his performance this past season, Lucas Giolito won’t have much wiggle room in terms of negotiating a higher paid long term deal. Even if he signs elsewhere, it is probable it will be a short term as well. Giolito will have to prove he can be an ace again.
In 2022, Giolito signed a one year deal for 7,450,000 dollars. Before the start of the season, Lucas Giolito and the White Sox avoided arbitration after initially arguing over a mere 50 thousand dollar difference in offers.
With the mistake of not re-signing Carlos Rodon last year and the continued injuries to Michael Kopech, it will be imperative for the front office to sign pitching talent in the off-season regardless if they keep Giolito or not.
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