3 former White Sox players to bring back in free-agency
The Chicago White Sox have seen a lot of good players come and go over the years. For a few years there, they were a good team but a lot of the most impactful players are gone.
Now, a few of them are free agents looking for new homes ahead of the 2024 season. On Monday, we saw Reynaldo Lopez head to the Atlanta Braves while Lance Lynn signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Those two are now off the table.
So would Chris Getz consider bringing a few former Whtie Sox players back into the mix in his first off-season as GM?
That remains to be seen over the next few weeks, but there are a few players worth considering especially when it comes to arms. These are the three former White Sox players that they should try bringing back for 2024:
Lucas Giolito
In 2023, the Chicago White Sox traded Lucas Giolito to the Los Angeles Angels for a couple of prospects. He was having a very nice year with the Sox which is why the Angles were willing to give up some good young players to get him. He had a 3.79 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 121.0 innings with the White Sox so the Angels were hoping for more of that.
Unfortunately, Giolito wasn't able to pitch well in an Angels uniform. He pitched in 32.2 innings with them where he had a 6.89 ERA and 34 strikeouts.
It was an effort to get on track with Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout both in the mix. It failed in spectacular fashion and the Angels are now in a terrible spot now that Ohtani is going to be changing teams in free agency.
To save some money in the final month of the season, Giolito (along with four other players) was put on waivers for non-performance-based reasons.
He was claimed by the Cleveland Guardians and was even worse. He had a 7.04 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 30.2 innings for the Guardians. He was just never able to get on track after leaving the White Sox where he was pitching very well.
Now, knowing how good he can be in their uniform, the White Sox should consider going back after him this off-season. They need starting pitching to get them through this transitional period and Giolito would be a great fit for them.