The Chicago White Sox and pitcher Lucas Giolito were unable to find common ground on the day of arbitration salary exchanges (March 22), but they finally agreed on the right-hander’s pay for the 2022 season.
Back then, the White Sox were offering to pay their ace $7.3 million, while Giolito was asking for $7.5 million.
The $200,000 gap wasn’t substantial, so it made little sense for the team to fight one of their best starters on an arbitration hearing.
Those hearings can get nasty and are known to destroy some relationships.
But thankfully, that won’t be an issue this time.
“White Sox announced they reached a deal with Lucas Giolito at $7.45 million to avoid arbitration,” The Athletic’s James Fegan wrote in his Twitter account on Friday.
White Sox announced they reached a deal with Lucas Giolito at $7.45 million to avoid arbitration
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) April 1, 2022
Chicago Will Pay Giolito Something Close To What He Was Asking For Initially
In the end, the White Sox decided to settle by offering to pay Giolito closer to his demands than their own.
It didn’t make sense for a contending team to make one of their best starters disgruntled.
Giolito and Lance Lynn will lead a very solid rotation that also has Dylan Cease, Dallas Keuchel, and Michael Kopech.
Ideally, the White Sox would love to replace Keuchel with another starter, such as Oakland Athletics’ Sean Manaea.
Giolito was really solid in 2021, and the best thing is that he can be penciled for 170 innings at the very least, as long as he is healthy, of course.
Last year, he had a solid 3.53 ERA in 178.2 frames for the White Sox, striking out 27.9 percent of the hitters he faced.
Much of the White Sox’s chances to finally make a deep postseason run will rest on his right arm.
NEXT: White Sox Get A Financial Victory In The Craig Kimbrel Trade