The Red Sox hired Craig Breslow as the Chief Baseball Officer in late October 2023. To lead the Boston Red Sox’s baseball operations isn’t easy. Breslow certainly has a lot to do in this job. Adding a starting pitcher is surely necessary. In early January, the Boston Red Sox and Lucas Giolito finalized a 2-year deal.
While reading the news that Giolito inked a deal with the Red Sox, I began to think about a question. In 2023, Giolito played for the White Sox, the Angels and the Guardians. He made 33 starts and tossed 184.1 innings. Last season, he owned a 4.88 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. An ERA over 4 doesn’t look very good, hence, do the Red Sox really make a good decision to sign Giolito?
Pitching in the AL East isn’t easy, so let’s take a quick look at Giolito’s performance against the AL East opponents.
Giolito made 5 starts against the Orioles by far in his career. He earned 3 wins and took 2 losses. However, he owned an ERA over 5 and a 1.50 WHIP over 26 innings. At the same time, against the Yankees, Giolito got 3 wins and 2 losses as well. He tossed 26 innings, posting a 4.85 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He made a start against the Yankees last season. It was on June 6, Giolito was pitching for the White Sox and he didn’t allow a run over 6 innings.
In addition, Giolito made 8 starts against the Rays so far in his career. He threw 53.1 innings, posting a 2.70 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. Furthermore, the Rays batters only batted .208 against him. Last year, he made 2 starts against the Rays, allowing 6 runs (all earned) in 13.2 innings.
Giolito also made 8 starts against the Blue Jays. Nonetheless, he gave up 26 runs over 43.1 innings. Giolito posted an ERA over 5 against the Blue Jays. Moreover, the Blue Jays batters hit .281 against Giolito. He made 2 starts against the Blue Jays in 2023, giving up 5 runs in 11.1 innings.
When we look at Giolito’s performance against the teams in the AL East, he did pitch well against the Rays. Nevertheless, his ERA is over 4 against the Yankees. Furthermore, his ERA is over 5 against the Blue Jays and the Orioles.
Craig Breslow became the Chief Baseball Officer last October and it seems that inking a deal with Giolito is a “key signing” in Breslow’s Red Sox career. Well, in October 2019, the Red Sox hired Chaim Bloom as their Chief Baseball Officer. In December 2019, the Red Sox and left-handed pitcher Martin Perez agreed to a 1-year deal. That’s probably the first of many “key signings” in Bloom’s career with the Red Sox. In 2020, Martin Perez finished the season with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Of course, the 2020 season was a shortened one. Nonetheless, last year, Giolito had an ERA over 4.50 and a WHIP over 1.30. He didn’t have a great 2023 season. In particular, the outcomes didn’t go well when Giolito was pitching for the Angels and the Guardians. In 2024, it will certainly be worth watching if he can finish his first season in the Red Sox uniform with an ERA below 4.50. Additionally, from 2019 to 2021, he was one of the most reliable starters and finished each season with an ERA below 4. Can he replicate his performance from 2019 to 2021?
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