Not long after an 8-0 drubbing, featuring five home runs and a masterful performance by maligned starter Clay Buchholz, of the Philadelphia Phillies to open the 2015 season, the Boston Red Sox capped off the day by inking starter Rick Porcello to a four-year contract extension. The extension runs through the 2019 season.
Boston acquired Porcello in the offseason via a trade with the Detroit Tigers. With more outfield talent than they knew what to do with, the Sox decided to send left fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who came over from the Oakland A’s last season, to the Tigers in exchange for Porcello. Cespedes is set to become a free agent after this season, and the contract he will likely command was not within Boston’s comfort zone.
Porcello, too, looked likely to hit free agency after this season. While many expected the Red Sox to sign him to an extension at some point, progress on that front seemed stalled. Just a few days ago, Porcello himself said that he did not want to talk about his contract during the season; he just wanted to focus on baseball. That must certainly have brought back shades of Jon Lester for many Sox fans, as the former ace, now with the Chicago Cubs, said much the same thing at the start of the 2014 season. As early as Monday morning, manager John Farrell expressed uncertainty as to whether or not Porcello would be back with the team in 2016.
Now, it appears all that talk was just a smokescreen, or maybe the Sox were just messing with us for the hell of it. The extension, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, will pay Porcello $82.5 million over its course. That may seem like a lot of money for a relatively unknown starter, but given the price tag that quality starting pitching tends to command these days, as well as Porcello’s potential, and the Sox may have actually gotten a bargain.
Consider this: Porcello’s numbers have, very quietly, improved every year he’s been in the league, aside from his second season. While his career earned run average (4.30) won’t drop any jaws, in 2014 he posted a 3.43 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP on his way to 15 wins. Since that second season, in which his ERA ballooned from 3.96 the year before to 4.92, Porcello has trended in the right direction. His ERA and WHIP have dropped each season since 2010, and he has struck out more batters and walked fewer, again with few exceptions (he struck out 13 more batters in 2013 than he did in 2014, and walked six more batters in 2011 than he did in 2010).
Porcello is also a workhorse. He has thrown fewer than 170.2 innings in a season just once, and tossed a career-high 204.2 frames last season, his best from a statistical standpoint. That quality will help keep the bullpen fresh over the next five seasons (including this one), which will give the Sox an advantage over other teams come October, when the wear and tear of the long season starts to show.
All this suggests that Porcello, who is only 26 years old, is just entering the prime of his career. The Sox defense, an upgrade over the defense that backed Porcello in Detroit, should help him, as a solid infield is key to the success of ground ball pitchers. Much was made throughout the offseason of the Sox apparent lack of a true ace. While Buchholz looked like an ace today, Porcello, if his numbers keep improving, could be that guy as soon as next season. In an era in which starting pitching is at a premium, the Sox have locked up one of the game’s rising stars for what may look like a steal just a few months from now.
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