White Sox ace ‘open’ to being on Southside for life

White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito is interested in a long-term deal to stay in Chicago and be “a White Sox player for life.”

At general manager meetings in November, White Sox GM Rick Hahn talked about the possibility of signing pitcher Lucas Giolito up to a long-term deal.

“I think our track record probably speaks for itself on that matter,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty long history of being aggressive in trying to sign young guys to long-term deals that extends their stay in a White Sox uniform. Obviously, it takes two to tango. There’s got to be mutual interest in that.”

Is there mutual interest on the part of Giolito, who just finished his fifth season with the team?

Lucas Giolito is open to being with the White Sox for the long term

“I mean, I’m open to it,” Giolito said, per NBC Sports. “For me, I’m always interested in a long-term contract, something where essentially: Make me a White Sox player for life.

“But the business of baseball is the business of baseball. A lot of that’s out of my hands, so for the time being, I’m just going to focus on what I focus on, which is getting better, especially in the offseason right now.”

The idea of making Giolito a “White Sox player for life” should be music to fans’ ears. Of course, getting a long-term deal done is like composing a complex symphony. It takes work and a lot of instruments to make it come together.

Giolito will make $8.2 million in 2022 and he’s due for arbitration in 2023 with free agency in 2024. There is time to get him a new deal, but the clock is ticking.

In 2021, Giolito went 11-9 with an ERA of 3.53 in 31 starts.