“There’s an element of real deep disappointment that we’re at this point right now,” general manager Rick Hahn said.
Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez were acquired as prospects in one of the first two big trades at the 2016 winter meetings the White Sox used to kick off a rebuild that was supposed to produce multiple championships.
Late Wednesday, Giolito and Lopez were packaged together for a 20-year-old catching prospect and minor league left-hander on a night the Sox lost to the Cubs to fall 21 games below .500 six days before the trade deadline.
That rebuild has flopped, producing two postseason appearances and no victories in either series in 2020 and 2021. The Sox were a .500 team last season, characterized by everyone in the organization as a huge disappointment. And then there’s this year.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had several weeks to get to that headspace,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “I’m certainly not going to lie, the idea where we’re at this point where guys like Giolito and López who we acquired back in ‘16 when we kicked off the rebuild in earnest are logically the guys that make sense to move, given their contract status. There’s an element of real deep disappointment that we’re at this point right now, that there wasn’t more postseason victories along the way as part of their tenure with the White Sox.
