Finishing the 2025 season with a 10-4 record, 3.41 ERA and 121 strikeouts, starting pitcher Lucas Giolito was instrumental to the success the Boston Red Sox enjoyed in 2025.
Now a free agent, Giolito’s future remains undecided. Though a return to Fenway Park made sense for both parties heading into the offseason, such a move might not materialize, as the Red Sox have already added significant depth to their starting rotation by acquiring Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals earlier in the winter.
On Monday’s episode of the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast, Giolito shared his honest outlook regarding a potential return to Boston.
•
“I didn’t know (the Red Sox planned to sign Sonny Gray.) I maintained kind of the same attitude, I loved it there (Boston),” Giolito said (Timestamp: 20:22). “I would have loved to go back, I mean I still would. But if you look at the writing on the wall, I don’t think that they need another starting pitcher. That’s business, baby. That’s how it goes.”
“The anxiety is lessened” – Lucas Giolito explains how his second free agency is different from his first
In the same conversation, Lucas Giolito also explained how his experience of being a free agent for the second time has differed from the first.
“You get better at anything with experience. I have been through this once,” Giolito added (Timestamp: 15:08). “This will be my second go. I will probably have a third go when that’s done. You get used to things. This goes for anything in life. You do something for the first time, it’s going to be uncomfortable. You might make some mistakes. It might be weird. But when you do it for the second time it’s going to be easier. For example, my last free agency I was coming off a really bad couple of months. My stats were horrible. I was stressing during free agency.
“I was like, ‘Wow, I went from a $100-plus-million pitcher to having two mediocre seasons that completely shattered my market. What’s going to happen? What kind of deal am I going to get? Where am I going to go? I would stress out about and I ended up finding a wonderful landing spot. I cherish my time with the Red Sox. But this time around it’s like, ‘OK, relax. It’s going to take care of itself.’ I have been with my agent for so long. He’s really great at his job. Let him do his job. Let me do my job. And we’ll go from there.”
Lucas Giolito is projected to secure a deal in the range of $30 million.
Edited by Raghav Mehta
Leave a Reply