Most predictable Red Sox contract option gets exercised at start offseason

The Boston Red Sox on Oct. 31 announced that pitcher Lucas Giolito exercised his player option to pitch for the team in 2025.

Boston signed Giolito as a free agent before the 2024 campaign, but the righty only pitched a few spring training games before he experienced elbow discomfort. His first season with the Red Sox ended before it started when he underwent the internal brace procedure to repair his UCL on March 12.

The Sox hoped 2024 would be a bounce-back year for Giolito. The veteran posted two underwhelming seasons in a row in 2022-23, and Boston's newly revamped pitching program was supposed to help him get back on the right track.

Giolito was widely expected to use his player option because he didn't pitch well in his last two healthy seasons and didn't post any numbers for 2024 — he may have been hard-pressed to find a team willing to take him on as a free agent. Giolito clocked a 4.90 ERA in 2022 and a 4.88 in 2023 after he earned Cy Young award votes from 2019-21 while he played for the White Sox.

As expected, Lucas Giolito exercises player option and will pitch for Red Sox in 2025

Now, 2025 may serve as Giolito's rebound year. Boston's pitching coach Andrew Bailey, who was hired weeks before Giolito signed with the Sox last year, helped transform Tanner Houck into an All-Star. Hopefully, he'll be able to do the same with the struggling veteran.

Now, the Red Sox don't need to make as many additions to the starting rotation this winter, and Giolito may be able to help them draw some top-tier pitching talent. He's personal friends with his former high school teammates and impending free agents Max Fried and Jack Flaherty, who would both look great in Red Sox uniforms in 2025 and beyond. He's already begun recruiting with Fried, and Flaherty may be next once he finishes celebrating his World Series win with the Dodgers.

More Red Sox reads: