GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Here are three takeaways from a busy Friday for the White Sox.

Giolito’s respect
Lucas Giolito has such respect and positive feelings for the White Sox and their front office after agreeing to a one-year, $7.45 million deal for the 2022 season, avoiding arbitration, that he needed two interview sessions to fully express himself Friday.

Giolito had a media relations representative call reporters back from the Camelback Ranch pressbox to the White Sox facility after he had talked about the resolution to this briefly contentious process, which included a sit-down with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. It seemed like a perfect April Fool’s Day maneuver, but instead Giolito wanted to make sure he gave props to general manager Rick Hahn and assistant general manager Jeremy Haber.

“This process can get ugly, at times, but they worked their [tails] off to work with me and communicate with me and try to make it as seamless as possible,” Giolito said. “And then going and talking with Jerry, the same deal. There’s a lot of love there. And I just wanted to make that known.

“I know when you differ on numbers that sometimes a player feels a certain [way, and] a team feels a certain way. The team will be, ‘All right, it is what it is.’ That was not the case this time. They worked very, very hard, and I just wanted to make a point of that. That it’s really appreciated.”

When asked if he was in a good place with the White Sox, Giolito added, “Yeah, really, really good. Lots of respect there.”

The ace of the White Sox staff earned $4.15 million in ’21, but admittedly was upset when his side and the team couldn’t come to an agreement on the arbitration deadline day. Giolito reportedly filed at $7.5 million, while the White Sox came in at $7.3 million. 

It was at that point when Giolito had face-to-face chats with the front office, calling the meeting with Reinsdorf “a really nice move.”

“When it comes to business, going through different levels with [my] agent and [the] front office it got to the point where we believed mutually the best way to go about it was to have a nice conversation about it. And that’s what we did,” added Giolito. “Being able to have full communication and talking it through with Jerry made a huge difference.

“Overall, it was such a positive getting to know each other better and understanding both sides of the situation. I feel that respect from the team, understanding this arb system we have. No one really likes this business side of the game. We just want to go out and compete on the field. So, getting this out of the way now, we get to have full attention on trying to have a championship season.”

Giolito laughed and said he made a few comments about a longer-term extension when talking with Reinsdorf. So, how was it received?

“Pretty well,” Giolito said. “I love this organization, I love this team, there's nowhere else I want to be.

“I've got another couple years here to step my game up and be that elite caliber guy and see if we’ll be able to make something happen in the future. We’ll see.”

Hahn never rests
Hahn took his usual jog around the field and up and down the stairs of Camelback Ranch after talking about the acquisition of outfielder AJ Pollock from the Dodgers on Friday. But in this strange offseason, greatly affected by the lockout, Hahn doesn’t feel like his work is done.

“For understandable reasons, this whole offseason has been jacked up,” Hahn said. “The abbreviated spring [and] the lack of contact with the players for several months over the course of the offseason has sort of led to this Spring Training being a little messed up, too, in terms of rhythm and what we're used to doing.

“The offseason in my opinion ends Opening Day and then, obviously, there's probably going to be fewer transactions over the early part of the season. And then before you know it, the opportunity to improve ourselves in June and July will probably present itself. From my standpoint and mentality and everyone in the front office, the offseason is still going at this point.”

Keuchel’s outlook
Dallas Keuchel is looking forward to the 2022 season, seemingly for as much as the White Sox lofty expectations as much as his own contributions.

“We are going to be really, really good, so it’s tough not to be excited,” said Keuchel, who allowed seven runs with four strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings in his last Cactus League start Friday. “If we get behind early, we have the firepower to come back quick. We are not ever out of any ballgames. The excitement level is a 10.”