Lucas Giolito Expects To Be Ready For Opening Da

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is going into what he hopes will be a rebound year. His first season with the Red Sox was wiped out by a Spring Training elbow injury that required an internal brace procedure to repair his UCL. The internal brace is generally a le s invasive operation than a full Tommy John surgery. That can shave a few months off the projected recovery timeline. Giolito underwent his surgery in the middle of March. With Spring Training opening one year later, the right-hander expects to be on the mound in exhibition play. Im going to be ready for a full Spring Training and a full season , Giolito told WEEIs Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isnt Boring . I find it funny when I see stuff online saying that Ill be coming back in June. I dont know where that came from. I have no idea. Everythings going great. I look forward to Garrett Temple Jersey a full year. Giolito said he is towards the tail end of his rehab proce s at the teams complex in Fort Myers. He indicated he expects to progre s to throwing off a mound soon. Giolito added that teammate , who underwent the same procedure in late May, is at a similar stage in his own rehab work. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke with reporters ( Alex Speier of the Boston Globe) this morning. Breslow wasnt as firm as Giolito had been about the pitcher being ready for the start of exhibition play, but he said that the team indeed expects to have both Giolito and Whitlock available for the bulk of 2025 if not all of it. Breslow added that reliever , wholl be a year and a half removed from August 23 Tommy John surgery, will be a full go for Spring Training. Thats the expected outcome, as Hendriks had a chance to return at the end of this past season before minor arm discomfort led the Sox to shut him down in September. Giolito conceded that he may need to compete for a rotation spot in what is shaping up as a new-look pitching staff. The Sox have added and this offseason. Theyre likely to lose , who remains unsigned after rejecting a qualifying offer. Crochet and Buehler join , and in the projected starting five. If Boston prefers to open the year with a five-man rotation, Giolito (a suming hes indeed on track for Opening Day) may compete with Crawford for the #5 job. Crawford has experience working out of the bullpen but took all 33 turns through the rotation this year. In any case, the Sox will likely need to rely on all six pitchers to start games over the course of a 162-game schedule. Whitlock, who has yet to reach 80 MLB innings in a season, could be a candidate to head back to the bullpen. Boston moved Whitlock into the rotation to start the 24 campaign, but he went on the injured list with an oblique strain after four appearances. He injured his elbow during a minor league rehab a signment. Given the durability questions, a return to a two- or three-inning relief role may be appropriate. Giolito will play next season on a $19MM player option. The Red Sox hold a $14MM club option for the 2026 season. Giolito would convert that to a mutual option valued at $19MM if hes able to log 140 innings next year. If he opens the year on the active roster, thats a reasonable target even though he didnt pitch this past season. Durability had been one of the rightys biggest pluses coming into this year. Giolito had made 29+ starts in each of the preceding five full schedules. He to sed a career-high 184 1/3 innings with a combined 4.88 earned run average between the White Sox, Angels and Guardians in 2023. DeAndre Jordan Jersey