UPDATE: The Padres signed Lucas Giolito to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027, the team announced.
ORIGINAL STORY: Lucas Giolito remains a free agent a month into the 2026 MLB season. But it’s possible he lands somewhere sooner rather than later.
MassLive’s Chris Cotillo noted he’s spoken to people in the industry who believe Giolito and the San Diego Padres are “in an inevitable marriage that could take shape soon.” The sides are in active talks, sources told Cotillo.
Injuries to San Diego’s pitching staff have linked Giolito to the Padres recently. They have eight pitchers on the injured list including former Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta, who’s dealing with right elbow inflammation.
Yu Darvish underwent a UCL internal brace surgery in October and isn’t expected back until 2027, while Joe Musgrove hasn’t pitched since 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Giolito spent the last two seasons with the Red Sox, but did not pitch in 2024 due to an elbow injury that required an internal brace procedure.
The 31-year-old was serviceable for Boston in 2025 with a 3.41 ERA, 10-4 record and 121 strikeouts in 145 innings.
Giolito recently told the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast that he was negotiating with teams in the offseason, but admitted it was strange.
“The last few months has been very strange to where talks seem like they’re heating up and then it’s like ‘Oh OK never mind.’ I just want to play for close to what my value is,” Giolito told Rob Bradford. “Everything is based on these models now, right? Everyone uses projection and models and things like that to determine and my agency does the same thing. So it’s like, ‘All right, cool, give me something that’s relatively close to that and let’s go and get it.’”
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