Washington Nationals: Is this the year they regret trading Lucas Giolito?
Neither the Washington Nationals nor Chicago White Sox have greatly benefited from the Adam Eaton trade yet. This year, Lucas Giolito can sway favor in the White Sox direction.
When the Washington Nationals acquired Adam Eaton from the Chicago White Sox in December 2016, they landed a considerable upgrade in the outfield. He joined a Nationals squad prepared to go deep into the playoffs. While they did make it to the NLDS again, they did it without Eaton around.
Eaton suffered an early-season injury, keeping him out of action for much of 2017. He’s back healthy again this year, but still has plenty to prove.
Another guy involved in this trade ready to make an impact is Lucas Giolito. At the time of the deal, Giolito was still one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. However, a weak brief debut with the Nationals hurt his stock. Giolito didn’t pitch very well at all with the White Sox Triple-A squad but turned things around completely in his seven starts with the big league squad late in the year. In 2018, he will look to continue down the right path.
Nationals fans may not have noticed what Giolito did last year. In seven starts for an awful team, Giolito went 3-3 with a 2.38 ERA. He hasn’t quite mastered the ability to strike big league batters out, fanning only 6.8 per nine with the White Sox last year. Give him a few more innings, and he can surely start piling on K’s more regularly.
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As Nationals fans may recall, Giolito wasn’t the only notable pitching prospect they surrendered for Eaton. Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning also went to Chicago. Lopez has yet to find his footing at the MLB-level. Last year he finished with a 3-3 record and 4.72 ERA with the White Sox. Meanwhile, Dunning is still in the minor leagues, but pitching very well and earning lots of strike three calls.
Lucas Giolito: Future Ace?
An argument could be made in favor of Giolito starting Opening Day. Instead, the White Sox will go with veteran James Shields. Next year though, we could see Giolito stick it to the Nationals and earn himself the number one starter role with the White Sox.
When it comes to regretful thoughts about trading Giolito, the Nationals will first need to see what Eaton can offer in a full season. They still have Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, both of whom help them survive a lack of a young starting pitcher in their organization.
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Eventually, the Washington Nationals may need to watch from afar as Giolito becomes the next stud righty in the American League. Thankfully, they’ll rarely have to deal with him outside of the rare interleague game or World Series.