Red Sox Make Unfortunate But Unsurprising Lucas Giolito Announcement

Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito, as widely expected, will have to go under the knife.

Boston manager Alex Cora announced Monday after his team’s spring training game against Pittsburgh that Giolito will undergo surgery on his right throwing elbow Tuesday.

What’s still unclear, though, is the full extent of Giolito’s injury. Either way, it’s not good for this season. Giolito will either need full Tommy John surgery, a move that will put his status for the start of 2025 in doubt, or a brace procedure. The latter could lead to an earlier return, but it would still be months before even beginning to throw again.

It all points to a lost season for Giolito, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last week the newly signed pitcher has a partial tear in his UCL as well as a strain of the flexor tendon. None of this is a huge surprise to the Red Sox; Cora said last week that it didn’t look good when the club announced Giolito was being shut down with the elbow issue.

Giolito is in the first season of a two-year deal with the Red Sox. Boston signed the 29-year-old in the offseason and hoped he’d be what he has been his entire career: an innings eater. Giolito logged 184 1/3 innings last season while striking out 204 batters. His contract reportedly includes a $19 million player option for 2025 that Giolito almost certainly will exercise. If he needs Tommy John, he’ll probably miss a year-plus, making the financial security of that option even more enticing.