Angels acquire Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez from White Sox
It’s official: The Los Angeles Angels are going for it! The Halos are acquiring right-handers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for top prospects Edgar Quero and Ky Bush, ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report Wednesday evening.
According to MLB Pipeline, Quero and Bush were the No. 2 and 3 prospects in the Angels’ system, respectively; for additional perspective, according to Fangraphs, they placed No. 2 and 8, respectively.
Even though the Angels have one of the worst farm systems in baseball, Giolito and Lopez are both rentals, so that’s a rock-solid return from Chicago anyway you choose to slice the pie.
Giolito, 29, is enjoying a bounce-back season after a suboptimal, albeit unlucky 2022 campaign. Through 21 starts, he’s sporting a 3.79 ERA with a 4.46 FIP–his worst since 2018, up from his 4.06 mark a year ago–in addition to 131 strikeouts in 121 innings this season.
Giolito ranks in the 51st percentile in expected batting average, 66th percentile in whiff rate and 67th percentile in strikeout percentage, according to Baseball Savant.
While Giolito is the more coveted asset, Lopez has still been a serviceable reliever for Chicago, despite his bloated 4.24 ERA. He’s struck out 29.2 percent of the batters, who are slashing .213/.309/.381 (.690 OPS) against him in 2023. Since the start of 2021, Lopez has fanned 26 percent of hitters with a 3.38 ERA (125 ERA+) and a 3.39 FIP (78 FIP-).
Entering Wednesday, the Angels’ rotation ranked in the bottom half of rotation ERA (4.62), ERA- (107) and FIP (4.43). They entered just outside the top-5 in strikeout percentage (24.5 K%), so Giolito will fit right in alongside Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and Griffin Canning.
The Angels were also in need of a setup man ahead of rising closer Carlos Estevez. Lopez, who has not surrendered a run since June 26, could absolutely help bridge that gap, even though the Angels should continue searching for bullpen relief ahead of the Aug. 1 MLB Trade Deadline.
If there’s any doubt about the Angels keeping Shohei Ohtani, this is the loudest indicator that they will. Los Angeles has not made the playoffs since 2014 and this is the closest they have been to contending since.
They are currently four games back of the Toronto Blue Jays for the third-and-final Wild Card spot; with Mike Trout and Ohtani for possibly the last time, now’s the time to put the pedal to the metal for Los Angeles, and this is a great start to what could be an active next five days.
All in all, both sides should be satisfied with this deal. The Angels are going for it! What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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