Red Sox Giving Pitchers ‘Every Chance’ To Fill Lucas Giolito’s Spot

Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito isn’t going to be ready for Opening Day, and in all likelihood will have quite a bit of time before returning to the mound.

Boston is “concerned” with the status of Giolito’s elbow, and don’t believe he’ll be ready for the start of the season. The Red Sox currently are in the process of setting up more tests for the 29-year-old, but the expectation is that he’ll be out indefinitely.

The Red Sox will have to find Giolito’s replacement in the rotation, but the expectation is they won’t have to look far.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow joined NESN’s broadcast booth during Tuesday’s spring training game, and was asked whether or not Boston had enough internal candidates to fill the void left by Giolito.

“I think we do,” Breslow said, as seen on NESN. “I’ve been outspoken about pursuing all options and paths that could represent an opportunity to improve the club. At the same time, we’re here, we’re playing games, we’re starting to see the effect of (pitching coach) Andrew Bailey and the rest of the pitching infrastructure, and the steps these guys have taken.”

Boston currently has a number of pitchers duking it out for the fifth spot in the rotation anyway. Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Josh Winckowski might be looking to fill a pair of spots now, though.

“I think each situation is different,” Breslow said. “I spoke about the optimism that we have around this group (earlier in the week) and that remains. We’re seeing what (Whitlock) is doing today. We’ve seen the way guys like (Winckowski) threw the ball yesterday. Houck looked good.

“We’re still trying to process exactly what we have in front of us, and what kind of timeline we’re dealing with. I think we feel good about the group that we have here, and we’ll give them every chance to grab hold of rotation spots and come together as a staff.”

The Red Sox could still go out and sign someone, as well, but by all accounts, it looks like the entirety of their starting rotation is currently on the roster.