Lopez was a free agent last year. It was either dump him or lose him for nothing. They also did really well in that trade with another pending free agent in Giolito who was way more likely to be signed than Lopez as he had actually been dependable... up until his arm fell off.
The same thing sort of happened to the Sox this year. They finished 4th worst last year, but got the 5th pick in the lottery. They picked 5th overall, but 4th in rounds 2-20. The same thing will happen next year.
It's probably the build up expectation for this year being something different being pitching by a couple of people, but outside of the lottery ticket in the 20th round, this felt like every Rick Hahn draft ever.