Lucas Giolito exercises $19 million Red Sox contract for 2025 MLB season | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito is sign up his $19 million salary for the 2025 MLB season.

Deliberations over his short-term future likely moved very quickly for the veteran right-hander.

Giolito underwent season-ending elbow surgery during spring training, so he has yet to make his Red Sox debut. With him out for all of 2024, it was hard to imagine him hitting the open market and matching his initial salary or securing a bigger payout over multiple years.

Boston was already counting on him to have a bounce-back year.

Giolito made 33 starts in 2023 in stints with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians. He finished 8-15 with a 4.88 ERA and a 5.27 FIP, per Baseball reference. His 41 home runs allowed led the American League.

Opponents teed off to Giolito’s fastball, hitting .546, according to Baseball savant. His secondary pitches also weren’t as effective as they might have been, with opponents posting a .314 and .309 wOBA against his changeup and slider, respectively. In contrast, Giolito allowed a .267 and .247 wOBA with those two offers during his 2019 All-Star season.

He further outlined how hitters were squaring Giolito like never before, allowing a career-high barrel rate (11.0 percent) and his second-highest hard hit percentage (41.6).

Giolito was initially optimistic about his fit in Boston.

“I feel like it’s just a good fit for me, what I’m trying to do is get back to the type of pitcher I know I can be,” he said. said after I signed in January 2024. “I’m a big fan of Andrew Bailey, the new pitching coach. I’ve had great conversations with him over the last few weeks. And then a little bit on top of that (it’s the) Boston Red Sox, a legendary franchise, Fenway Park. There’s no a lot to complain about.’

Perhaps that excitement will prove justified when he is healthy again.

Expecting Giolito to return to his peak White Sox form while collecting Cy Young votes might be a bit unrealistic. His performance was on a downward trend before a serious elbow injury raised additional concerns about his long-term value.

Should he prove to be a good mid-rotation starter, that will be a nice bonus for Boston and he could get a solid payday next spring.