Red Sox's Lucas Giolito Says He Gets Angry Messages from Bettors After Every Game

Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito said that the online threats made to MLB players, largely by disgruntled bettors, is "getting worse" as time goes on.

"I'm getting messages after every game," he told Rob Bradford during an appearance on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast (h/t Jon Paul Hoornstra of Newsweek). "Even games where I pitched well, where they're mad at me because I hit the strikeout over instead of being under; prop bets, all these crazy things. People put hundreds of dollars on it. They don't have a lot of money but they're gambling it anyway because it's a disease. They freak out."

In May, Giolito's teammate, fellow pitcher Liam Hendricks, revealed on Instagram that he and his wife were receiving death threats.

"Threats against my life and my wife's life are horrible and cruel," he wrote at the time. "You need help. Comments telling me to commit suicide and how you wish I died from cancer is disgusting and vile. Maybe you should take a step back and re-evaluate your life's purpose before hiding behind a screen attacking players and their families. Whether you do it from your 'fake accounts' or are dumb enough to do it from your real account, I think I speak for all players who have had to deal with this in their career when I say: Enough is enough."

That same month, Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. also received death threats on social media.

"I understand people are very passionate and people love the Astros and love sports, but threatening to find my kids and murder them is a little bit tough to deal with," he told reporters. "There have been many, many threats over the years aimed at me mostly, and I think actually one or two people from other issues around baseball actually have had to go to jail for things like that. But I think bringing kids into the equation, threatening to find them or next time they see us in public they're going to stab my kids to death... things like that are tough to hear as a dad."

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last week that players receiving death threats, largely stemming from angry bettors, was an issue the league took seriously.

"If a player receives a threat from any source, on any topic, it is a matter of concern to us that we take really seriously," he told reporters. "I've had players in the last month mention this issue to me as one of concern and we're discussing what we should do to be more proactive in this area."

Giolito confirmed Tuesday that he was one of those players, though the disturbing trend doesn't seem to be letting up.