Red Sox’s Lucas Giolito Needs 4 Innings for Contract Option

Coming into the season, the Red Sox could not possibly have hoped for the kind of production they’ve gotten from Lucas Giolito, the veteran the team signed before last season to anchor their young staff. Giolito injured his elbow last spring and missed all of 2024 after having an internal brace put in.

Giolito has had the best season he’s put forth since he was an All-Star in 2019, going 10-4 with a 3.31 ERA. What’s more is this: He’s gotten better as the year has gone on.

In his last nine starts, going back to the end of July, Giolito has gone 4-2 with a 2.32 ERA, and 41 strikeouts in 54.1 innings. He has given the Red Sox something it appeared they were missing for much of the first half of the season—a true No. 2 starter to take the ball behind ace Garrett Crochet.

Lucas Giolito 4.0 Innings From Contract Option

There is, though, a flip side to the Giolito success story. His consistency this year and his ability to keep rolling with his turn in the rotation—he has made 24 starts, third on the team—has brought him to 136.0 innings pitched. With Giolito taking the mound tonight, his contract situation is set to take a team-unfriendly turn.

Giolito signed a two-year deal for $38.5 million last winter, with a team option for a third year  at $14 million. Given his performance, the Red Sox were sure to exercise that option, and to do so at a bargain.

Except that if Giolito hits 140 innings this season, that option changes from a $14 million team option to a $19 million mutual option. And Giolito stands to make a lot more than one year, $19 million with the way he’s pitched this season, meaning he is all but certain to exercise his side of that opt-out.

Red Sox Can Still Pay Up in Free Agency

It’s not hard to do the math, then. A mere four innings from Giolito is going to mean a big raise, maybe up over $50 million. At Spotrac, the site’s algorithm pegs Giolito’s value on the market at three years and $54 million—which means he could be worth less than the $19 million option but warrants a longer-term commitment.

Of course, the Red Sox could simply re-sign Giolito themselves. They could try to keep him on a extension before the season ends, too. He’s likely to want to test free agency, but there’s no doubt he wants to stay put.

Lucas Giolito: 2025 Has Been ‘Most Fun I Have Ever Had’

He’s enjoyed the 2025 season in Boston.

“There’s a magic to Fenway man,” Giolito said two weeks ago. “Especially with where we are at, in a playoff race. This is the most fun I have ever had playing baseball in MLB. Every single games matters, the fans show out, whether it is day game, night game, midweek, weekend—they’re here, they’re on their feet in the big situations, they’re locked in. … It just makes it special.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney