Lucas Giolito MLB trade odds: Pitcher makes potential final start for White Sox Tuesday vs. Mets with Dodgers, Reds, Orioles, Phillies among top trade suitors
The White Sox are expected to trade right-hander Lucas Giolito.
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The Chicago White Sox are one of the most disappointing teams in the American League and reportedly are open for business ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline. It's quite possible that Tuesday night's outing at the New York Mets will be the last in a White Sox uniform for right-hander Lucas Giolito. SportsLine offers odds on his destination if he's traded. Chicago is a short underdog at Caesars Sportsbook.
Chicago's championship window, short as it was, appears to have closed on the current group led by Giolito, Tim Anderson, All-Star Luis Robert and a few other core players. The White Sox probably should have beaten the A's in the 2020 AL Wild Card series but lost in three games. Chicago simply wasn't as good as Houston in the 2021 ALDS, losing in four. The franchise took a step back last year under Tony La Russa.
The switch to first-year manager Pedro Grifol hasn't improved anything, with the team at 40-55 and 8.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. It's a division title or bust, because Chicago is 12.5 games out of the AL's second wild-card spot.
According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the White Sox's only untouchables in trade discussions are their star center fielder Robert, outfielder/DH Eloy Jimenez (although he's hurt again), first baseman Andrew Vaughn and right-handed starting pitcher Dylan Cease, who was the 2022 Cy Young Award runner-up.
Those players are all under team control for multiple years. Giolito (6-5, 3.45 ERA) will be a free agent this winter and out of the White Sox's price range even if they wanted to bring him back -- the team simply doesn't hand out massive free-agent deals. When the franchise was in its last rebuild, Giolito was a key piece it got back from Washington in the December 2016 Adam Eaton trade.
It's possible that White Sox GM Rick Hahn doesn't like the market for Giolito, hangs on to him and gets a compensatory draft pick next year (would be roughly in the mid-70s) by attaching a qualifying offer to Giolito. That happened with the Cubs in 2022 and All-Star catcher Willson Contreras. While the market for Contreras last summer was limited, there will be plenty of suitors for Giolito, who has a 2.76 ERA (15 ER/49.0 IP), .186 (33-177) opponents' average, 0.98 WHIP and 53 strikeouts over his last eight starts.
The Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers are both eyeing Giolito, who is from southern California. The Dodgers have five starters on the injured list in Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Ryan Pepiot, Noah Syndergaard and three rookies in their rotation. The Reds' rotation is a mess, but the team is contending ahead of schedule – although sliding right now.
Baltimore has the lineup to win the AL East and pennant, but not the rotation. Will the Yankees even be buyers this year while sitting in last place and with Aaron Judge's return TBA? Texas has to replace Jacob deGrom.
The only better starting pitchers available via trade might be the Angels' Shohei Ohtani and Mets' Max Scherzer, and neither may actually be on offer. That the Angels and Mets are struggling takes them out of the Giolito sweepstakes.
Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Which team will Lucas Giolito be pitching for after Aug. 1 if not the White Sox?
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