Almost 17 months after signing with the Red Sox, Lucas Giolito is finally set to make his first official appearance in a Boston uniform. Manager Alex Cora told reporters (including the Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham) that Giolito will be reinstated from the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, and start that day’s game in Toronto against the Blue Jays.
Giolito signed a two-year, $38.5MM free agent deal with the Sox in January 2024, with the second season technically a player option year that Giolito could have declined in order to re-enter free agency. There is also a conditional option that triggered when Giolito declined to opt out, as the Red Sox now hold a $14MM club option on Giolito’s services for 2026. That club option can become a $19MM mutual option with a $1.5MM buyout if Giolito pitches at least 140 innings in 2025, which remains possible even though he has already missed a month of action.
Back in the 2023-24 offseason, the deal was seen as something of a bet-on-yourself type of pillow contract for Giolito, who was trying to rebuild his stock after underwhelming results in each of the previous two seasons. The right-hander’s ideal scenario would’ve seen him post strong enough numbers in 2024 to establish himself as a frontline starter, and then opt out of the final year of his Boston contract in order to land a much lengthier and pricier deal with the Sox or another team last winter.
Unfortunately for Giolito, that plan was almost immediately ruined when he suffered a partial right UCL tear and a flexor tendon strain during Spring Training. The injury required an internal brace procedure that ended Giolito’s season before it even began, though the one silver lining is that Giolito at least avoided a Tommy John surgery that would’ve delayed his return until closer to the middle of this season. If anything, Giolito might’ve been back already if it wasn’t for a hamstring strain suffered in Spring Training that led to this month-long stint on the 15-day IL.
Giolito has made five starts during his minor league rehab assignment, and a 5.19 ERA across those 17 1/3 rehab innings isn’t as important as the fact that Giolito is feeling healthy and ready to re-launch his big league career. With Brayan Bello also returning from a season-opening IL stint last week, Boston’s rotation is starting to round into form after a spate of injuries left the staff scrambling for depth. Though Kutter Crawford and Richard Fitts remain sidelined, the Sox will now have a set starting five of Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler, Tanner Houck, Bello, and Giolito. Sean Newcomb will likely move from the rotation into a depth role at Triple-A, or perhaps a spot in Boston’s pen.