The Red Sox Implosion is Way Ahead of Schedule as Lucas Giolito is Likely Out for the Season

Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox. Getty Images.

You know that show you watch that starts out with a good season or two that gets you interested, but then falls apart so suddenly and so spectacularly that you not only don't tune out, but find you can't stop hate-watching it? The last season of Game of Thrones is probably the best example, though there we were still hanging in hoping it would all pay off at the end. Which it famously did not. I'm talking more about shows that ran out of ideas and just kept going indefinitely. LOST, once you realized they were just throwing shit against the wall without any intention of tying the loose ends together. Walking Dead around the time they started the fake-out deaths and introduced the tribe who spoke a language all their own, even though they were working office jobs about 18 months earlier. The Office after Michael Scott left, and so on. 

It's with a heavy heart I say the Red Sox crossed that Rubicon about a half dozen beloved player departures ago. Which is something that's not lost on one of their few remaining All Star caliber players:

The whole appeal of the 2024 season is reduced to waiting to discover what level of awfulness they're capable of achieving. To see how quickly the all the parts can fall off the car until it's just John Henry like a cartoon character holding onto nothing but the steering wheel. 

And today it feels like that's coming even sooner than expected. Because one of the few positive moves Henry let his front office make just fell off the metaphoric car before we've even made it to St. Patrick's Day:

The sad irony here is that Lucas Giolito was signed to add a durable arm to a rotation that's been in desperate need of one for years. Last year he tied for the AL lead with 33 starts. Yes, with three different teams. And he led the league in home runs too. And was 42nd in ERA and 37th in WHIP. But Henry isn't buying teams in every professional sport in North America and the UK by paying for Cy Young talent. He just wanted a $15 million starter who can eat innings. 

And now he'll probably get 0.0 as a return on that investment. Which only adds to this brain melting stat:

Now, in the normal course of things, the reaction to this news would be to start scouring around MLB looking for a quality replacement. Someone available in a trade. Probably from some small market team looking to unload payroll, or trying to get something in return before he's arbitration eligible or a free agent. 

But that way of thinking is so 2018. Now Boston IS a small market. At least it's being run like one. That $15 million is just going to be treated as a sunk cost. And Giolito's 33 starts will be split up among a half dozen or so low cost borderline Major Leaguers, call ups and spot starters. While Henry surreptitiously orders Craig Breslow to cut more payroll, Sam Kennedy to raise revenue, Tom Werner to crank the volume on "Sweet Caroline," and then goes home to take a nap on his Smaug-sized pile of treasure.

Still, nice attempt by Breslow signing Giolito. You can't blame a GM for trying. It's a tough break for the player. But it at least it will spare him the indignity of going 8-15 again.