3 free agent starting pitchers the Red Sox need to avoid at all costs

Lucas Giolito

Lucas Giolito was set to be one of the prizes of the 2023 trade deadline. He was a consistent performer on the mound with the White Sox for several seasons including multiple decent Cy Young voting finishes. While his 2023 season with Chicago wasn't great, he was still missing bats and that whole situation with the White Sox was a dumpster fire. It wasn't crazy to think that he just needed a change of scenery.

Giolito certainly got that change of scenery as he was traded to the Angels at the deadline as LA was trying to go for it one last time with Shohei Ohtani in the fold. Unfortunately, the Angels cratered and Giolito was terrible in his six starts with the Angels. LA waived the white flag pretty quick and Giolito was claimed by the Guardians where he was equally bad on the mound in six starts there.

Its hard to say what caused Giolito's drop-off. It is possible all the moving around messed him up and that would be understandable. However, a guy that is probably looking to get paid coming off a season where he posted an ERA approaching 5 and who could not keep the ball in the ballpark is an incredibly risky bet to make.

It is possible that the Red Sox could see adjustments Giolito could make to get back to being the guy he once was. However, for a new front office that needs to hit on these early moves to fix the rotation, they need to look elsewhere other than Giolito.