Will he stay or will he go? That’s what the Boston Red Sox need to decide when it comes to Lucas Giolito .

The right-hander pitched 145 innings in 2025, which turned his 2026 contract into a mutual option , meaning he can choose to return to the open market. But Giolito ran out of gas at the end of the season and missed the playoffs with an injury to his right elbow.

Qualifying Offer Debate

So will the Red Sox extend Giolito the qualifying offer : a one-year, $22.05 million contract which assures Boston it will receive draft-pick compensation if the 31-year-old walks?

“If I’m the Red Sox, I’m giving Lucas Giolito the qualifying offer of $22.025 million — assuming, that is, the elbow soreness he suffered late in the year isn’t structural,” Masslive.com’s Sean McAdam predicted

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