White Sox Set To Undergo Firesale; Red Sox Could Target All-Star Starter

Boston needs to upgrade the rotation

Scott Neville | Apr 28, 2023

White Sox Set To Undergo Firesale; Red Sox Could Target All-Star Starter /

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If one thing has been made clear 27 games into the Boston Red Sox's season it's that the starting rotation is in desperate need of improvement.

Boston's 6.41 Starter ERA entering Friday's game against the Cleveland Guardians is the second-worst in Major League Baseball. The only team they are better than is the historically awful Oakland Athletics.

Could some internal options such as Chris Sale, Corey Kluber and Tanner Houck settle in and improve? Sure, but the current group is holding the team back significantly and is more than a breakout player away from notable improvement.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, the woes of an American League foe could aid their pursuit of an improved pitching staff.

The Chicago White Sox have gotten off to a 7-19 start and could be nearing a complete firesale if the trend continues according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.

If the White Sox do in fact sell, right-hander Lucas Giolito -- an impending free agent -- would likely be one of the first to go.

Giolito has had a middling start to the season with a 4.50 ERA, promising 28-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .248 batting average against in 28 innings this season.

However, the 28-year-old finished sixth, seventh and 11th in American League Cy Young voting between 2019 and 2021, respectively.

Moreover, his trade value would be within Boston's reach given his aforementioned status as an impending free agent.

Boston has a logjam of starters -- Sale, Kluber, Houck, Nick Pivetta and Brayan Bello currently belong in the rotation with James Paxton set to return soon and Garrett Whitlock expected to miss a few starts with an elbow injury. Regardless, running the same group out there is not going to garner favorable results.

Giolito won't solve the Red Sox's issues but could improve them in the present and essentially try out for the long term.

More MLB: Red Sox Sign Ex-Angels Hurler To Bolster Pitching Depth For 2023 Season

Published Apr 28, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu