White Sox, one-time All-Star SP Lucas Giolito agree to one-year $7.45M contract, avoid arbitration

Giolito has spent nearly his entire six-year MLB career with the White Sox, after being selected 16th overall by the Washington Nationals in the 2012 draft and getting his feet wet in the big leagues with six games in 2016. Giolito was traded from Washington to Chicago in December 2016 and pitched in seven games (all starts) with the White Sox in 2017, going 3-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 0.94 WHIP.

The 2018 campaign was the first full MLB season for the Santa Monica, Calif., native, but it was a disastrous one, as he went 10-13 with a 6.13 ERA and 1.47 WHIP across 32 starts, while leading the league in earned runs allowed (118) and walks (90). Giolito took a big step forward in 2019 though, going 14-9 with career-best numbers in ERA (3.41), WHIP (1.06) and strikeouts (228), while finishing sixth in the AL Cy Young voting earning his first All-Star berth.

The 27-year-old was solid again in the abbreviated-2020 season, going 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA and 97 strikeouts across 72 1/3 innings while throwing a no-hitter in August of that year. Giolito went 11-9 with a 3.53 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 201 strikeouts across 178 2/3 innings pitched.