The Boston Red Sox signed Lucas Giolito, who drew interest from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets, among other teams.
Giolito’s two-year contract with the Red Sox is worth $38.5 million and includes an opt-out clause after the 2024 season. Giolito is poised to receive an $18 million salary in 2024 and would receive a $1 million buyout if exercising his opt-out clause.
Should the 29-year-old decide to remain under contract with the Red Sox, his salary in 2025 would be $19 million. That also would amount to obtaining a conditional option for the 2026 season.
If Giolito pitches fewer than 140 innings in 2025, the Red Sox would hold a $14 million option for the following season. If the right-hander exceeds that mark, Giolito would trigger a $19 million mutual option.
Regardless of the option value, Giolito would receive a $1.5 million buyout if that ends up being the final decision on his contract status for 2026.
The Red Sox are hoping to bolster their rotation with a bounce-back candidate. The Southern California native went a combined 8-15 with a 4.88 ERA, 5.27 FIP, 1.31 WHIP and 10 strikeouts per nine in 184.1 innings pitched across 33 starts between the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians.
Giolito’s struggles throughout the 2023 season amounted to becoming the first pitcher since 1899 to give up at least eight runs in a start for three different teams in the same year.
From 2019 to 2021, Giolito made 72 starts and struck out 30.7% of batters faced while flashing ace potential.
Lucas Giolito had interest in reunion with Shohei Ohtani
Getting traded to the Angels at the deadline this year provided him with an opportunity to briefly play alongside Shohei Ohtani. That was short-lived, however, as he made just six starts for the Angels prior to being placed on waivers as part of salary-dumping moves by the team.
While Ohtani and Giolito were both free agents, the pitcher expressed interest in again being teammates with the two-way superstar.
That looked to be conceivable even after the Dodgers signed Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but their interest in Giolito figured to be on much more team-friendly terms as a depth piece for their starting rotation.
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