Lucas Giolito Has Tens of Millions Riding on the Rest of This Season

Lucas Giolito sits on 130.1 innings pitched for the Boston Red Sox. Considering he missed all of last season, that's a pretty good showing, to go along with his 10-3 record and 3.38 ERA.

But it gets a lot better for Giolito—like, tens of millions of dollars better—if he pitches 10 more innings. Bob Nightengale explains in USA Today:

The Red Sox have a $14 million club option on starter Lucas Giolito that they plan to pick up, but Giolito needs to pitch just (9.2) more innings to reach 140 innings for the season and turn the club option to a $19 million mutual option – which he could void and become a free agent again.

So to sum it up: Right now, Giolito is guaranteed a $14 million contract on a club option for 2026 (or a $1.5 million buyout if the BoSox choose not to pick up).

But if he reaches that 140-inning mark, instead of a team option, it becomes a mutual option. And the way he's been pitching in his comeback season, he would almost certainly decline that $19M and hit free agency, where he'd be in line for a much richer multi-year deal.

It's pretty certain that the Red Sox, battling for both a Wild Card spot and the AL East Division title, will not try to hold his innings down, considering he is one of their best three starters right now. His next start is pencilled in for Friday against the New York Yankees in the opener of a critical three-game series.

Giolito, 31, received Cy Young votes for three straight seasons with the Chicago White Sox from 2019 to 2021. But after a couple of rougher seasons, he underwent an internal bracing procedure on his elbow, knocking him out for 2024.

Although his strikeout numbers are way down, to just 7.4 K/9, his performance this season is enough for some teams to give him a multi-year deal that should easily top the $38M, two-year deal that he's currently on.