Padres Sign RHP Lucas Giolito To One-Year Contract
SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres have signed right-handed pitcher Lucas Giolito to a one-year contract with a mutual option for the 2027 season and have optioned him to Single-A Lake Elsinore, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager A.J. Preller announced today. To make room on the 40-man roster, the club has transferred right-handed pitcher Bryan Hoeing to the 60-day IL.
Giolito, 31, spent the 2025 season with the Boston Red Sox after missing 2024 recovering from right elbow ulnar collateral ligament repair surgery, and posted a career-best .714 winning percentage (10-4 record), 3.41 ERA (55 ER, 145.0 IP) and 121 strikeouts against 56 walks across 26 starts. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound right-hander posted reverse splits in ’25, limiting left-handed hitters to a .219 clip (58-for-265) while righties hit .259 (73-for-282). His 14 quality starts ranked third on the Red Sox pitching staff, and he’s now posted at least 11 quality outings in each of his six full seasons.
Originally selected by the Washington Nationals in the first round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft (No. 16 overall), Giolito joins the Padres totaling a career 71-66 record with a 4.30 ERA (554 ER,1158.2 IP) across 206 appearances (204 starts) for the Nationals (2016), Chicago White Sox (2017-23), Los Angeles Angels (2023), Cleveland Guardians (2023) and Red Sox (2025). The Santa Monica, Calif. native received votes for the American League Cy Young Award in each season from 2019-21 and garnered an AL All-Star selection in 2019. On Aug. 25, 2020 vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates, Giolito threw the 19th no-hitter in White Sox history with 13 strikeouts, and a fourth-inning walk to Erik González was the only blemish in an otherwise perfect game. He has made at least 26 starts in each of his last four seasons (2021-23, ‘25), and from 2018-25 he ranked among AL leaders in innings pitched (3rd, 1092.0), strikeouts (3rd, 1,153), complete games (T-3rd, five) and wins (T-4th, 68).