Giants Release Joey Lucchesi

The Giants have released left-hander Joey Lucchesi, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports.  Lucchesi was non-tendered by San Francisco last November and then re-signed to a minor league deal a couple of weeks ago, but the recent signing of southpaw Ryan Borucki apparently made Lucchesi again expendable.  Heyman wrote that Lucchesi was “granted his release,” so it could be that the team agreed to Lucchesi’s request to be let go, or the left-hander might have triggered an out clause in his contract if he learned he wasn’t making the Opening Day roster.

Lucchesi first landed in San Francisco on a minors deal last offseason, and posted a 3.76 ERA, 7.3% walk rate, and 18.8% strikeout rate over 38 1/3 innings out of the Giants’ bullpen after his contract was selected in mid-June.  The bottom-line ERA was respectable and Lucchesi had a strong 53% grounder rate, but the Giants still decided to pass on tendering a contract rather than pay Lucchesi a projected $2MM arbitration salary.

2025 marked the first time in Lucchesi’s seven MLB seasons that he worked exclusively out of the bullpen, and he went longer than an inning in only seven of his 38 Giants appearances.  Rather than acting as a swingman or even a true long reliever, Lucchesi could be settling into more of a traditional relief role, though it certainly can’t hurt that he looks capable of slightly longer stints.  Left-handed hitters have rarely been able to do much against Lucchesi, as he has held lefty swingers to a .219/.296/.301 slash line over his career.

Lucchesi is out of minor league options, which adds another hurdle in his quest to land with a new team.  Unless he sticks in the majors and delivers particularly solid results, Lucchesi could find himself in DFA/waiver wire limbo, as the proverbial 26th man on the roster.  That said, teams are always in need of left-handed depth, so Lucchesi may not have to wait long before he finds another contract.