Good news Boston Red Sox fans, the Sox finally signed a pitcher yesterday....MAX CASTILLO! That's right, the 24 year old right handed pitcher was signed off waivers from the Kansas City Royals after allowing 10 runs in 20 innings in the 2023 season. Sox GM Sam Kennedy said the Red Sox were going "full throttle" and what better way to counter the Dodgers getting Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto by signing a mediocre relief pitcher for minimum wage........good lord.
All kidding aside, the bigger move was the Red Sox finally got a free agent starter....it just happened to be the worst of the three available. The Sox signed 29 year old right handed starter Lucas Giolito to an absurd 2 year, 38 million dollar contract. Back in 2019, Giolito was arguably the Chicago White Sox best pitcher going 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA. He had a similar seasons in covid shortened 2020 and 2021, but has been downhill ever since. He regressed to 11-9 with a 4.90 ERA and had a miserable 2023 season going through a nasty divorce and sinking to 8-15 with a 4.88 ERA for Chicago, the LA Angels and Cleveland Guardians. The worst part is not only is he going to make 19 million this upcoming season, but he can opt out if he wants after it. After going through Garrett Richards, James Paxton and Corey Kluber the past three seasons....giving a declining starter 19 million seems pound foolish.
Once again, there's two ways to look at it. You could go Boston Radio and think he's going to suck, allow home runs left and right and be gone after the year with 19 million wasted. Or, you can go Boston Twitter that says he can be a valuable innings eater and replacement for Chris Sale. Now it looks like the rotation is Brayan Bello, Giolito, Kutter Crawford Nick Pivetta and Garrett Whitlock. Now the Sox can still sign Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery or trade for Dylan Cease or Jesus Luzardo, but as of now the Sox at least have one proven starter on the roster. Hopefully this is move number one of another to get the Sox starting pitching help, or its the signal that ownership needs to sell the team. The rumor is that Montgomery and Snell are "too expensive" and the Sox are looking to trade Kenley Jansen to further cut payroll, if that's the case then its time for John Henry to sell. The Dodgers are doing whatever they can to get another World Series while the Red Sox are selling off the only talent they have to get under a Luxury Tax that this very same ownership didn't give a rats ass about for 20 solid years. But hey....they got Castillo and Giolito.....yay?