Lucas Giolito - Starting Pitcher
From 2019 to 2021, Lucas Giolito was one of the best pitchers in the American League. During those seasons, he averaged nearly ten wins a year with a 3.47 ERA. His two seasons since then, 2022 and 2023, have not been as promising. While he still averaged nearly ten wins a season and continued to eat up innings, his ERA ballooned to 4.89 during those two seasons.
After signing a two-year deal with the Red Sox during the 2023 offseason, Giolito suffered a season-ending elbow injury in 2024 Spring Training.
While Giolito was penciled in atop the team’s rotation when he signed with the club, that is no longer the case. With the emergence of Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello during the 2024 season and this past offseason's signing and trade of Walker Buehler and Garrett Crochet, at full health, Giolito will be fighting for the team’s fifth and final spot in the rotation.
While Giolito is set to open the season on the Injured List with a hamstring injury, when he eventually does suit up for the Sox, he could be a valuable veteran at the back end of the rotation.
While his most recent performances haven’t been promising, if Giolito can give the Red Sox a full season of 30+ starts and 10+ wins he can be the perfect fifth and final starter on a Sox team that can at full health win the American League East and can get back to playing October baseball.