We’re five and a half weeks from the MLB trade deadline, and one of the biggest questions surrounding the Red Sox is whether they’ll be buyers or sellers.
With the Sox winners of seven of their last nine games, they’ve crawled back into the Wild Card race.
Boston is currently 1.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot. While that may seem promising, the Sox need to leapfrog the Angels and Blue Jays who are the two teams ahead of them vying for the same spot.
If the Sox are looking to do a little buying before or at the trade deadline, they’ll see two players on the White Sox this weekend who could be fits for Alex Cora’s roster.
Friday night’s starter Lucas Giolito would solve many problems for the rotation. Boston needs another starter after losing Chris Sale to a stress reaction in his left shoulder blade. He was placed on the 60-day IL and isn’t expected to begin rehab work until August.
Tanner Houck is also on the IL after taking a line drive off the face during the Yankees series at Fenway Park. Houck will undergo surgery to have a metal plate placed into his fractured face. His timetable is unknown and due to his absence in the rotation, the Sox have gone with two openers, Kaleb Ort and Justin Garza each of his last two times in the rotation.
Giolito would immediately boost the Sox rotation and help anchor down a staff that already includes James Paxton, Garrett Whitlock, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford.
The White Sox righty was good in his start Friday night against the Sox from Guaranteed Rate Field. The narrative the last eight starts has been poor run production for Giolito. Chicago scored three runs or fewer over that span and that trend continued on Friday night only managing to plate one run off the stingy Bello.
Giolito tossed six innings giving up three hits, one earned run and one walk while striking out 10 in the 3-1 loss.
Rafael Devers tagged Giolito for a mammoth 443-foot blast deep to right-center in the fourth inning. For Devers, it was his first homer in 10 days and hopefully for his sake, it’s the start of turning the page on his slump.
CRUSHED by Carita. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/RiuicNxn0X
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 24, 2023
The former first-round pick of the Washington Nationals is having a solid comeback season, the right-hander has made 16 starts while posting a 5-5 record with a 3.41 ERA over 92 1/3 innings. He’s been consistent for the slumping White Sox which may make it difficult for them to trade him.
There's a lot to like about Giolito, and he's similar to Nick Pivetta in the respect that he takes the ball every fifth day. He's made 77 starts the last two-and-half years and has tossed 432 2/3 innings during that span. The durable potential trade candidate offers a four-pitch mix on the mound, a four-seam fastball, slider, changeup and curveball.
The 28-year-old is a candidate for an extension with the White Sox, but if the cost to extend the righty is too high, he’ll become one of the most sought-after names in the coming weeks.
"The White Sox don't plan to keep starter Lucas Giolito after this season, and will make him available at the trade deadline if they are out of the race," wrote Bob Nightengale of USA Today back in May.
Despite being a rental, Giolito won’t come cheap for Chaim Bloom. Last season, lefty José Quintana was one of the top rentals on the market and was flipped by the Pirates to the Cardinals for an MLB-ready starter and a prospect.
Lucas Giolito's 8th, 9th and 10th Ks. pic.twitter.com/ytskbaLKAy
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 24, 2023
If Boston is going to buy and land Giolito it’ll likely cost them a top-100 prospect and a minor leaguer close to playing in the big leagues. This begs the question of whether Bloom would deal a player like infielder Nick Yorke, a Brandon Walter-type and more for example. I’m just spitballing an idea here to be in the ballpark to land Giolito. Over the last few seasons, teams have been demanding players who are big-league-ready.
Veteran righty Lance Lynn, who will pitch on Saturday, makes sense if the Sox want to explore another White Sox hurler. He is in the final year of his two-year, $38 million extension. However, unlike Giolito, he has a 2024 club option. Because he offers additional control, the White Sox could ask for a bigger haul for the 36-year-old.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested that the White Sox may only entertain players who are free agents at the end of the season. This would slam the door on a Lynn trade to the Red Sox.
Lynn is coming off an impressive outing on Sunday where he fanned 16 Mariners but took the loss. The Indianapolis native matched a 69-year-old ChiSox record with 16 strikeouts while compiling 33 swings-and-misses.
His stats this season aren’t eye-popping, Lynn is 4-8 with a 6.51 ERA. Could his performance be based on the White Sox' poor season? Possibly. Maybe inserting Lynn into a playoff race will course-correct his season.
By adding Lynn, Boston would have another arm under control heading into 2024. Paxton is a free agent at season’s end and he expressed interest in returning to the Sox. If he gets a better deal in the offseason, Lynn could slot into Paxton’s spot in the rotation.
The Sox need help in the rotation, the openers are a bandaid and Sox fans witnessed the Twins beat up on Garza on Thursday. Walter was good in his major league debut and should get more chances over the next few weeks. If the Sox are hovering around the final Wild Card they need to make a move for a dependable starter that can come in and eat innings and pitch in meaningful games. Either Giolito or Lynn checks some boxes for Cora and Bloom, but the Sox' chief baseball officer needs to pull the trigger on a deal that benefits his club for this season and beyond.