The top free agent signed by the Boston Red Sox in the offseason of 2024 won’t make a pitch.
The only concrete example of Boston’s front management investing to bring in outside talent came this summer when starter Lucas Giolito inked a one-year, $19 million contract with the Red Sox. After a throwing practice at the team’s spring training facilities last Tuesday, Giolito had soreness in his right elbow, according to manager Alex Cora. Giolito sustained a flexor strain and a partially ruptured UCL, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Before a choice was made, Giolito was supposed to get a second opinion on Monday. Giolito will have surgery on Tuesday afternoon, according to Sean McAdam, who also noted that the precise amount of the damage was not immediately known.
Giolito’s season hardly had a chance to get off the ground, but not before Bob Nightengale of USA Today announced that the surgery will end it.
Giolito has a 2025 player option left on his contract. It seems far more likely that he will exercise that option for the upcoming season given the current developments and the suspected shelving of his 2024 ambition.
It is illogical to make fun of Boston’s front office for the signing. Giolito has been a complete workhorse and has pitched the eighth-most innings in baseball since 2018. It is genuinely a bad break for both the Red Sox and Giolito, who is trying to recover from two disappointing seasons.
The Red Sox will pay Giolito and Chris Sale a combined amount of almost $35 million to have Giolito miss the entire season due to injury.
There won’t be many Red Sox supporters who are shocked that the team is massive underdogs (+320 on FanDuel Sportsbook) to make the playoffs in 2024 given their pitching dysfunction.
After Lucas Giolito’s injury, a former Red Sox pitcher is hoping to reunite.
Rich Hill, a former resident of Massachusetts, spent 19 seasons as an MLB player for 13 different teams. Is there still a season left in him?
Hill was already at the Boston Red Sox spring training complex in Fort Myers, Florida. He was heard on the radio during the team’s Grapefruit League game on Wednesday, and he seemed willing to give it another go, maybe for the last time, as the Red Sox are trying to rearrange their pitching staff after learning on Tuesday that offseason addition Lucas Giolito might not be back for the entire season.
“I mean, yeah, definitely interested… especially from the player’s standpoint.”
– Rich Hill on Wednesday
On March 11, Hill, who is now the oldest player in the league, will be 44. He is still a free agent. The veteran’s continued availability on the market can likely be explained by his 2023 season, during which he played in 22 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates and 10 for the San Diego Padres (obviously in addition to his age). Between his two stops last year, he had an 8-14 overall record with a skyrocketing 5.41 ERA.
This would be Milton, Massachusetts native Hill’s third season with the team in his hometown. He played for the Boston Red Sox in four games in 2015 after joining the team in 2010 and most recently making 26 starts in 2022. Hill was a member of the 2012 team, as is current Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. John Henry will be pleased to hear that he would demand a contract amount that is comparatively insignificant.
With 382 regular season games won and 1,405.1 innings pitched, Hill has an impressive record. The current consensus starters for Boston’s rotation, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, and Garrett Whitlock, have played in 389 games and logged 1530 innings combined. Josh Winckowski and Tanner Houck will also compete for a spot in the rotation.
Over the course of his long career, Hill has amassed a solid 90-73 record and a 4.01 ERA. The Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians/Guardians, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, and San Diego Padres were among the teams he had previously played for. The second-highest total by a player in MLB history is his 13 different clubs.