The White Sox made their first trade before the Aug. 1 deadline Wednesday, dealing right-handers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to the Angels in exchange for minor league switch-hitting catcher Edgar Quero and left-handed pitcher Ky Bush.
In Quero, 20, the Sox get the Angels’ No. 2 prospect per MLB.com and No. 65 overall in baseball. He is hitting .245/.385/.332 (62-253) with three home runs, 35 RBI, 39 runs scored, 54 walks and 53 strikeouts over 69 games this season with Rocket City.
The Sox are thin at catcher in their organization, which hasn’t developed one of their own since Ron Karkovice in the 1990s.
Quero was selected to the 2023 All-Star Futures Game, where he was a reserve for the American League team.
Bush, 23, is rated by MLB.com as the No. 3 prospect in the Angels system. He is 1-3 with a 5.88 ERA and 33 strikeouts (11.4 per nine innings) in six starts this season with Class AA Rocket City.
“This is certainly not where any of us in the organization thought we would be on the trade deadline when this year started,” general manager Rick Hahn said in announcing the trade after the Sox’ 10-7 loss to the Cubs that dropped them to 21 games below .500 in a year they expected to contend for the postseason. “But clearly moves like these in terms of helping us put our best foot forward in the best position are essential.”
Giolito and Lopez were traded because they will become a free agents after the season. Giolito could command a nine-figure multiyear deal, a price the Sox have never been willing to pay. Giolito is a native of southern California.
“Unfortunately the ’23 season isn’t working out the way we wanted,” Hahn said. “So I think it makes prudent business and strategic sense to add future assets for those becoming free agents.”
The Sox are likely to make more moves in the coming days. Asked if the trade marked the start of another rebuild, Hahn said, “Oh, geez. Over the course of the next week or so we are going to make the moves that make sense and put us in the best position going forward.
“In terms of declaring titles or where we are at for the organization going forward, there will be plenty of time for that.”
Hahn said his conversation with Giolito moments before the trade was announced was “mildly emotional.”
“Given this club’s performance over the course of the last several months, it’s apparent that these type of moves have to take place given where we are at.”
A native of Cienfuegos, Cuba, Quero is a career .280/.414/.456 hitter with 25 home runs and 140 RBI in 219 games over three minor-league seasons in the Angels system.
Bush originally was selected by the Angels in the second round of the 2021 draft.
Giolito and Lopez were both acquired in a trade at the winter meetings in 2016, starting a Sox rebuild that has essentially failed, producing two postseason teams with no postseason advancements beyond a single series.
Giolito, a 2019 All-Star who finished sixth, seventh and 11th in AL Cy Young voting in 2019, 2020 and 2021, is 6-6 with a 3.79 ERA over 21 starts this season, his seventh with the Sox.
López, 29, has gone 2-5 with a 4.29 ERA in his seventh season with the Sox.
“They will both be missed,” Hahn said.
Bush “provides a four-pitch mix, a quality starter with upside to add to our organization,” Hahn said.
Giolito was not available for comment.
