Lucas Giolito may have already thrown the most impactful pitch of his Red Sox career before even taking the mound.
In the same way that Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey once manifested working together in a big league front office as players, the rehabbing 30-year-old right-handed starter has long had dreams of doing the same with one of his former high school teammates.
That would be none other than Max Fried.
Giolito this week told Audacy’s “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast that he’s already been working the phones in an attempt to lure the soon-to-be free agent southpaw starter to join him in Boston and fulfill their lifelong dream.
“This is the shot to make it a reality right here,” Giolito said.
Also of note is the fact that he was also high school teammates with another soon-to-be-available starting pitcher, Jack Flaherty.
The fellow Harvard-Westlake High School alum was traded from Detroit to Los Angeles at the trade deadline and is now pitching for the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.
To boot, he turned in a masterful outing in Game 1 of L.A.’s championship series against the Mets. Flaherty lasted seven innings — once the minimum expectation, but now mostly an outlier for starters in today’s game — in a 9-0 victory, allowing no runs on two hits while walking two and striking out six. Not too shabby…
Fried, for what it’s worth, will be 31 next season and is coming off a solid season with the Braves, posting an 11-10 record with a 3.25 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP and 166 strikeouts across 29 starts.
As the link that connects them all, could Giolito effectively be responsible for assembling baseball’s next starting pitching “Big 3” (kinda, sorta…)? I have my doubts…
Playing with your buddies does have a certain appeal to it, and the fact that Giolito is putting his powerful Rolodex (does that reference even still land?) to good use for the Red Sox’s benefit is certainly a positive.
But money talks. Athletes are only willing to give up so much, if anything, to play with their friends. At the end of the day, players are going to take the best deal for them — as well they should. Things like who you’re playing with and where do factor into the equation, but more often than not, they take a back seat to the money.
Fried and Flaherty could still very well be had by the Red Sox (although given the fact that they punted on making an offer enticing enough to pluck loose Flaherty at the trade deadline, it makes me think they don’t “love” the pitcher…), but it will have to come at the right price.
I do think the Red Sox will spring for one of the top free-agent starters on the market this winter (or spring, given how long things take to develop anymore on the lukewarm stove), so it’s fair game to say Fried or Flaherty could wind up in Boston.
Unfortunately, even though they really need them, it probably won’t be both.
Yoshida under the knife
Masataka Yoshida’s second season in Boston was markedly more disappointing than his underwhelming first.
Expected to take the next step and hit for more power, the 31-year-old designated hitter merely mimicked his year one production while still hitting for a decent average in only 108 games (32 fewer games than in 2023) this season.
It seems we now have an official reason to blame for Yoshida’s struggles. The Sox on Wednesday announced to the surprise of many that Yoshida had undergone "successful right shoulder labral repair” earlier this month (Oct. 3).
Why it took so long for this news to be announced is a bit puzzling. I’m not sure if that suggests there was some initial complication or reason that it might not be successful, as these procedures are usually cut and dried and announced soon after completion.
Now the picture for a player whose future in Boston was already uncertain gets a little more murkier. Long talked about as a trade target this season, and given his status as a full-time DH coupled with the Red Sox’s need to balance out the lefty-heavy lineup, it seemed that Yoshida was a highly likely candidate to be moved.
Now, with an official injury tag attached to him, that further complicates things — and indications were already that he was already a difficult player to move without much of a market.
As I did all season, I still contend that Yoshida has value for teams in today’s game. He isn’t capable of playing a dependable outfield now anymore, apparently, but he’s still a guy who can hit in the range of .300 and could serve as a near-the-top-of-the-lineup average hitter to set the table for the heavy hitters.
There are always plenty of teams in the market for a DH, especially nowadays, and his bat could serve that purpose in another market. He just no longer fits here given the influx of young talent about to burst through.
In all likelihood, the Sox are going to have to eat a good portion of his deal to be able to get him off the roster. It’s just the price of doing business…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.