Lucas

Giolito

The move was expected as the right-hander is recovering from Tommy John surgery this spring. He is expected to miss the entire season and likely won’t be ready for major league game action until the second half of the 2025 campaign.

The good news is that Giolito did not have to get Tommy John surgery, the bad news is that he’s out for the season and likely at least half of the 2025 season. The surgery was completed by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas in Birmingham, Alabama, who performed Garrett Whitlock’s Tommy John surgery a few years ago.

The extent of the surgery is unknown, but if it’s Tommy John, it will end the 29-year-old’s season before it even begins. The surgery is scheduled for sometime on Tuesday afternoon and Red Sox manager Alex Cora said they’ll know more about the specifics of the surgery when Giolito goes in for the procedure.

Giolito will visit Dr. Dugas in Alabama, who is the same doctor who performed the Tommy John surgery on Garrett Whitlock a few years ago. Red Sox manager Alex Cora said surgery is a possibility but the team will know more after Monday’s visit. The best-case scenario for Giolito would likely be months of rest and rehab, but surgery does seem the most likely outcome at this point.

This likely means Tommy John surgery is on the way for Giolito. If that’s the case, it would be his second Tommy John surgery in his career. His first surgery came shortly after he was drafted by the Nationals in 2012. This is a brutal situation for the Red Sox who signed the 29-year-old to a two-year deal in the offseason worth around $38.5 million. The club and Giolito will weigh their options, but it’s more likely than not we won’t see Giolito in uniform this season.

Giolito will undergo tests to determine the discomfort in his elbow. Red Sox manager Alex Cora added the team is “obviously concerned” and it is “not a good day”. Giolito was one of Boston’s bigger acquisitions this offseason when the 29-year-old signed a one-year deal with a player option for 2025. He was likely going to be Boston’s Opening Day starter but with that in doubt, it looks like Nick Pivetta would get the nod.

There were no radar gun readings in this one, so while there have been reports of Giolito’s velocity being up some this spring, there was no way to confirm it today. He was effective versus the Twins, striking out one in the 27-pitch outing.

Cora added that as of today, Lucas Giolito, Nick Pivetta and Bryan Bello are locked into Boston’s rotation. It’s an interesting development for fantasy purposes as Crawford, who added a splitter to his pitch mix during the offseason. has shown some potential as a viable mixed-league contributor at times in recent years. That leaves Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Josh Winckowski fighting over the next few weeks for the final spot in the Red Sox’ season-opening rotation.

The new Red Sox starting pitcher believes that mechanical issues were a big part of his struggle in 2023. The right-hander posted a 3.79 ERA and 25.8 percent strikeout rate through 21 starts with the White Sox, but in six starts after being traded to the Angels, he had a 6.89 ERA. While that rough patch coincided with him filing for divorce, Giolito believes his struggles had more to do with his mechanics. “The last couple of months of my season I was moving around a lot and I got into some bad funks, I’d say mechanically, mentally...This offseason I’ve been really getting back to the basics when it comes to...getting my mechanics tightened back up, repeating my delivery and getting prepared to go out and try to throw as many quality innings as possible.” Giolito also believes that Boston is “just a great fit... to get back to the type of pitcher I know I can be. I’m a huge fan of Andrew Bailey, the new pitching coach. I’ve had wonderful conversations with him over the last couple of weeks.” While this is all great to hear in January, we’ll have to wait a few months to see if anything comes of it.

Giolito is guaranteed $37 million in the deal, if he chooses not to opt-out. It should be a pretty easy call for him to opt-out, and collect a $1 million buyout, especially if he bounces back somewhat. After all, he’s getting this much after going 19-24 with a 4.89 ERA the last two years. He’ll probably fare somewhat better than that, but his fantasy prospects dimmed with the move to Boston; he should get run support, but the defense and ballpark will work against him.