Lucas Giolito's Red Sox debut once again delayed

Red Sox righty Lucas Giolito will begin the 2025 season on the 15-day injured list, manager Alex Cora announced Thursday morning via Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe. Giolito exited his Grapefruit League debut earlier this week after one inning due to tightness in his hamstring. A subsequent MRI revealed a low-grade strain, the right-hander himself revealed to the team’s beat Thursday morning (link via MassLive’s Sean McAdam). While Giolito isn’t being shut down from throwing entirely, it seems they’ll back off enough that Opening Day won’t be realistic.

Giolito, 30, signed a two-year, $38.5M contract with the Sox in the 2023-24 offseason but has yet to throw a regular-season pitch for them. A partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow last spring led to an internal brace procedure that wiped out his entire 2024 campaign. His elbow was healthy enough to get back on the mound this week and put him in a position to break camp in the rotation, but the hamstring issue will prevent that from happening. The team hasn’t set a specific timetable for his return, though it’s relatively encouraging that it’s being termed “low-grade” and that Giolito is still throwing.

The Red Sox will open the season with three starting pitchers on the injured list. In that regard, Giolito joins Brayan Bello (shoulder) and Kutter Crawford (knee). That leaves the Red Sox with Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Walker Buehler and two of Quinn Priester, Richard Fitts, Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski in the rotation.

Giolito tells Rob Bradford of WEEI that he doesn’t feel the IL stint is necessary but acknowledged that it’s the team’s call. “If I were in charge, I would like to throw a ’pen tomorrow,” says Giolito. “I don’t know they want me to do that.” The right-hander notes that he felt 100% after playing catch Thursday morning and is hoping it’ll be a minimum stay on the injured list.

With two starters already shelved, it seems the Sox will opt for the extra cautious route despite some ostensible protest from Giolito himself. The team can ill afford to see Giolito go down with a more severe strain that’d sideline him for a lengthier period. If he’s out for only a minimal stay, he could be reinstated just 12 days into the 2025 campaign, as Opening Day IL placements can be backdated by a maximum of three days.