The Chicago White Sox are not a good baseball team. That is why they decided to trade Lucas Giolito to the Los Angeles Angels at the trade deadline.
With the White Sox, Giolito had a 3.79 ERA. He was bouncing back nicely from what was a horrific 2022 season for him.
With the Los Angeles Angels, however, he made a handful of starts but his ERA was 6.89. It was clear that the Angels made a mistake buying at the deadline.
To try and cut some of their losses, they put Giolito on waivers (along with five other players). The Cleveland Guardians claimed him.
As a side note, Reynaldo Lopez was sent to the Angels with Giolito and was placed on waivers to be claimed by Cleveland. These two are meant to be teammates forever.
Lucas Giolito has not had things go well since leaving the White Sox.
On Monday, Giolito made his first start with the Guardians. He only went three innings and gave up nine runs on seven hits and three walks.
This came in a huge divisional matchup against the Minnesota Twins. They ended up losing the game 20-6. It was a disaster for Cleveland.
Now, the Guardians are 6.0 games out of first place in the AL Central. With just a few weeks left in the season, that is going to be tough to overcome.
Giolito's season ERA is now up to 4.88. He raised it by over a run since leaving the White Sox a month ago which is crazy. It is hard to explain why the move from the White Sox hurt him so much.
It is sad to see even though it is with a division rival. Giolito is a good pitcher and a great human being. He is struggling right now but we have to hope he can come out of it.
Once again, he is going to need a big off-season to make sure he returns next year better. It will be interesting to see what team that is with.