One month into the 2026 MLB season, the last of the major free agents is finally off the board. The San Diego Padres announced Wednesday that they signed free-agent right-hander Lucas Giolito to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027.
The deal reportedly guarantees Giolito the prorated portion of $3 million, with a chance for him to earn up to $8 million. Giolito ranked No. 30 on The Athletic’s free-agent big board but didn’t find a match during the offseason. The former Boston Red Sox pitcher was projected by Tim Britton to receive a three-year deal worth $57 million after declining his end of a $19 million mutual option.
The 31-year-old posted a 3.41 ERA, 19.7 percent strikeout rate and 9.1 percent walk rate over 26 starts and 145 innings last season for the Red Sox. He joins a Padres team that is off to a strong start with a 16-7 record, currently tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West. Giolito will join Low-A Lake Elsinore, the Padres’ nearest affiliate, as he prepares for game action. Per his contract, he must be added to the big-league roster within 25 days.
Even if he requires time to build up to a season debut, Giolito should help address San Diego’s glaring need for starting-pitching depth. In March, Joe Musgrove experienced a setback in his return from Tommy John surgery, and he has yet to resume throwing bullpen sessions. Opening Day starter Nick Pivetta recently suffered an elbow flexor strain and, like Musgrove, is sidelined indefinitely. The Padres, who took low-cost flyers on Walker Buehler and Germán Márquez at the back of their rotation, had stayed in regular contact with Pivetta in recent weeks.
Their patience has now been rewarded with a potential bargain.
“The last few months has been very strange to where talks (with teams) seem like they’re heating up and it’s like, ‘Oh, OK, never mind.’ I just want to play for close to what my value is,” Giolito said this month on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast. “Everything is based on these models now, right? Everyone uses projection and models and things like that to kind of 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.’”
Still, Giolito poses another injury risk. The Southern California native joined the Red Sox on a two-year deal at the start of 2024, but he missed the entire first season after injuring his elbow in spring training and needing an internal brace procedure.
The right-hander had another setback the following spring with a minor hamstring strain that delayed his start to the season. After debuting in late April, it took Giolito a month or so to find his rhythm on the mound. He struggled to a 6.42 ERA through his first seven starts back before a mechanical adjustment in June helped him take off.
Over his final 19 starts, Giolito posted a 2.51 ERA and shared the No. 2 spot in the rotation with Brayan Bello behind the staff ace, Garrett Crochet.
Giolito lost velocity on his fastball in September, likely a result of having pitched his most innings since 2023. Ahead of his final regular-season start, he developed forearm tightness and ultimately missed his scheduled start in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees. After visiting the doctor who performed his internal brace procedure, Giolito was cleared, dealing with irritation of his tendon but nothing structurally wrong.
Giolito hoped to return to the mound if the Red Sox advanced in the postseason, but they lost the series. He resumed throwing in November and has been on a normal offseason program.