Houston Astros: Remembering the ridiculous Stanton offer and more!
Houston Astros: Top 3 Comical Trade Ideas
- Astros get Lucas Giolito
- Nationals get Lucas Harrell
When the Washington Nationals asked what Lucas Harrell would cost, Luhnow responded Lucas Giolito.
The Nationals were looking for another arm to throw in their rotation. Just an arm, not a staff ace or a top of the rotation guy. Just an arm. Harrell was that arm and was in the midst of losing a league-leading 17 games.
Harrell was serviceable I guess, he went 11-11 with a 3.76 earned run average on a bad Astros team in 2012. He had already flamed out in Chicago and was less than a year from being designated for assignment by Houston as well.
Lucas Giolito was a first-round draft pick in 2012 and was a Tommy John surgery, reclamation project. Maybe that was Luhnow’s in, for asking for the guy. The Nationals drafted Giolito out of high school knowing he was going under the knife and were prepared to sit idly by as he recovered from surgery.
Related Story. Houston Astros: The Franchise All-Time Bracket. light
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said he’d get back to Luhnow, presumably he never did.
As we mentioned, Harrell was cut from the Astros after pitching to a 9.49 earned run average in three starts in 2014 then bounced around three more teams before leaving baseball in 2017.
Giolito was traded to the Chicago White Sox in a package that returned leadoff hitter Adam Eaton for the Nationals. Giolito was an All-Star and won 14 games in 2019 for the Sox even garnering Cy Young votes. He appears to be well on his way to a productive career.