Ex-Giant's lengthy journey continues after Angels chose top prospect, released him

He’s on the move again, folks. Or, to paraphrase Duane Kuiper: "Lucchesi's on the move!" That’s right, former SF Giants lefty Joey Lucchesi was let go by the Los Angeles Angels just a couple of weeks after the Giants got rid of him. He will now be looking for yet another team.

Los Angeles designated him for assignment in order to make room for prospect George Klassen. The Angels needed a spot starter so Lucchesi was the odd man out and elected free agency after clearing waivers.

Former SF Giants lefty Lucchesi odd man out for Angels

The Angels did not waste a lot of time scooping him up after the Giants granted his release towards the end of spring training. After the Giants signed lefty Ryan Borucki, Lucchesi saw the writing on the wall and knew he was not going to make San Francisco’s Opening Day roster.

He had a really solid season for the Giants last season, pitching to a 3.76 ERA in 38 appearances. Most assumed the Giants would bring him back for 2026 since the bullpen was such a big question mark, but the Giants decided to non-tender him.

He remained unsigned for quite a while until the Giants decided to bring him back in the middle of spring training on a minor league so they had another arm to compete for a spot in the bullpen. With the injury to Sam Hentges the Giants were smart to add some left-handed depth but they chose to go with Erik Miller, Matt Gage, and Borucki as their left-handed options to begin the year while moving on from Lucchesi after a brief reunion.

So far, the Borucki experiment has gone…poorly. He had a brutal outing on Monday night that cost the team the game and it’s not altogether clear what he brings to the bullpen.

Lucchesi wasn’t all that great in Los Angeles as he allowed two earned runs in 2 and 1/3 innings of work for the Angels before being DFA’d. Probably his most notable moment in an Angels uniform was doing the weird 6-7 thing that I will never understand and will not put any effort into trying to understand in honor of his jersey number.

As for the current state of the Giants' bullpen, things are still a work in progress. It has looked good some nights and it has cost the team games like it did on Sunday and Monday. Even during a win on Tuesday night there was still some drama as Ryan Walker was wild but somehow made it through a tough eighth inning. 

There are going to be a lot of growing pains for the group so expect some more blown leads and struggles before they settle on their best arms.

Lucchesi should land with another team soon. Serviceable southpaws have a way of finding jobs so he shouldn’t be out of work for too long.