MLB Rumors: NL Team With Questionable Rotation Linked to Lucas Giolito

April 01, 2026 ,
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito reacts during 2025 game.

Nobody predicted this. 

A 31-year-old starter who went 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA in 145 innings last season, raised his arm angle mid-year and posted a 2.51 ERA over his final 18 starts, is sitting at home while the regular season has already begun. 

Lucas Giolito remains unsigned and the San Diego Padres, who opened the year with Joe Musgrove and Griffin Canning already on the injured list and Yu Darvish headed to the restricted list for the entire season, are as obvious a landing spot as exists in baseball right now. 

Why the Padres' Rotation Situation Makes a Giolito Signing Urgent

The Darvish development is the most recent domino. 

The 39-year-old is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will miss all of 2026, and moving him to the restricted list frees up the $15 million he was owed this season. 

The current rotation behind Michael King and Nick Pivetta includes Randy Vasquez, Walker Buehler, and German Marquez as the projected back-end options. That's a group with upside but also some big question marks. 

Adding Giolito slots him in immediately as a reliable middle-of-the-rotation arm who has already proven he can eat innings and limit damage. "Adding Giolito would give the Padres the necessary depth it needs," Fansided's Robert Murray wrote. "It would be a no-brainer move."

He also added: "It is baffling that no team is stepping up to sign the right-hander given his track record."

What Giolito Brings and Why He's Still Available

The elbow soreness that kept Giolito out of Boston's Wild Card series against the New York Yankees last October is the obvious explanation for the market staying cold this long. 

Teams are being cautious, and cautious teams in March don't hand out multi-year commitments to a pitcher coming off a velocity dip at the end of the season. But an MRI revealed no structural damage, and Jon Heyman reported that Giolito has had a normal offseason training program at Cressey Sports. 

Also, the arm angle adjustment he made seven starts into 2025, where he moved from 49 to 53 degrees, produced the best sustained stretch of his career over the second half. 

His market value projects to around three years and $61 million, but at this stage of the offseason, on a one-year deal or a short-term rental, the Padres likely don't need to come anywhere close to that number. 

Over the last five seasons, the 31-year-old holds a 4.21 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, with 703 strikeouts across 669.2 innings and 120 starts.

Photo Credit: James A. Pittman-Imagn Images 

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