I didn’t mind “only Giolito” because I had more faith in Houck/Bello/Crawford than most, and my faith in Sale dwindled to absolute zero.
Giolito is unexciting, but he fit what I saw as their biggest need - an innings eater to take some heat off the bullpen, which could get taxed with 3 starting pitchers who each have low IP for their career high. It was obvious August would take its toll.
So Giolito was fine. Not replacing Giolito felt like a white flag, especially since there were still plenty of options available.
You have repeatedly said this trade was about “saving $10mill” but I don’t see that. Sale was due a salary of $27mill, and Boston paid $17mill of that. But they also paid Giolito $18mill. So this set of moves cost them.
Also reportedly the Sox paid more money to acquire Vaughn Grissom. Reportedly the talks started with Atlanta just taking the whole salary and sending back minor league dreck, similar to an offer made previously to Bloom (not sure if it was Atlanta, but probably).
If the Sox simply wanted to save cash, they could have dealt Sale for nothing. And not replaced like they didn’t in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 when he wasn’t pitching for them…