At 16-7 and tied for first place in the NL West, the San Diego Padres have shown early in the season that there remains hope for another postseason berth and possible title contention.. Many assumed the team would be unable to overcome its free agent departures and lack of spending amid an ownership sale.
Additionally, early injuries to begin the season have not helped, but fortunately for Padres fans, it appears that reinforcements are on the way.
San Diego Padres Sign Lucas Giolito
The San Diego Padres announced they had signed right-handed starter Lucas Giolito to a one-year deal, with a mutual option for the 2027 season. Giolito previously played for the Boston Red Sox in the 2025 season. With Boston, Giolito delivered a 10-4 season with a 3.41 ERA in 145 innings. He was unable to pitch in the postseason for Boston as he dealt with an elbow injury. Boston was eliminated in the Wild Card round, and Giolito likely would have been unavailable for the entire postseason.
Giolito remaining a free agent a month into the season was seen as surprising to many, as he even declined a $19 million option to return to Boston for the 2026 season. He recently spoke about his decision not to sign with a team, saying, “The last few months have been very strange, to where talks seem like they’re heating up. And then it’s like, ‘OK, never mind,’” Giolito added, “I just want to play for close to what my value is. Everything is based on these models now, right? Everyone uses projection and models and things like that to kind of determine [value], and my agency does the same thing. It’s like, ‘Alright. Cool. Give me something that’s relatively close to that and let’s go and get it.’”
Giolito previously missed the entire 2024 season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. He was an All-Star with the Chicago White Sox in the 2019 season, and finished top-11 in Cy Young voting in three consecutive seasons.
Giolito’s Role With the San Diego Padres
Once Nick Pivetta was placed on the 15-day injured list, and an MRI revealed a flexor strain in his right elbow, the idea of adding Giolito to San Diego’s rotation became a no-brainer. With Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove’s statuses up in the air for the next few months of the season, the team will rely on 31-year-old Giolito to provide quality innings for San Diego’s starting rotation.
Fortunately for the Padres, Giolito may be available sooner rather than later, as he has stated that he has remained in shape and has thrown up to 75 pitches during live batting practice sessions.
However, Padres fans may need to temper expectations regarding the kind of pitcher they are getting in Giolito. Advanced numbers don’t value him as highly as his 10-4 record with a 3.41 ERA would suggest, and that is likely due to his 5.06 xERA. His whiff and strikeout percentages were also down from his 2023 season in which he had a 4.88 ERA.
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