Red Sox Extend Rick Porcello 4-Years $82.5 Million

A great day that featured questions about an ace, David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez dancing in the dugouts, people parachuting into ballparks, and monstrous home runs, just got a lot greater. The Boston Red Sox have signed RHP Rick Porcello to a four-year extension reportedly worth $82.5 Million.

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Porcello was quoted a couple of days ago saying he wanted to hold off contract talks until after the season had ended. Well, Porcello’s services will now be in Boston through the 2019 season. Porcello was traded by the Detroit Tigers last off season to Boston for Slugger Yoenis Cespedes. General manager Ben Cherington said that the negotiations came in the last few days of Spring Training. Alex Speier of WEEI reported the GM as saying “We think Rick’s a very good pitcher, a very talented pitcher who’s driven to succeed and to be as good as he can be.” Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald also reported Porcello as saying “Free agency provides a lot of opportunity, but to be in a Boston uniform and be part of this family here was extremely important.”

Porcello is set to make $20 million in 2016, $20 Million in 2017, $21 million in 2018, $21 million in 2019 and also receives a $500,000 signing bonus. Over the past four seasons, Porcello has gone 62-54 through 902.2 innings pitched. Porcello has compiled a 11.9 WAR in that span, a mark that ranks 40th among starting pitchers. In 2016, Porcello will be the 13th highest paid starter throughout baseball according to average annual value. Porcello broke into the big leagues in 2009 and has played for the Detroit Tigers for the past six seasons.

The Red Sox had offered a similar deal to ace LHP Jon Lester during the spring last year, but soon realized they had blew the negotiations once they let him test free agency. They clearly didn’t want the same thing to happen with Porcello. The Red Sox signing Porcello to a contract that big must be a real boost to his confidence considering that he is set to make his first regular season start in a Red Sox uniform against Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Clay Buchholz pitched seven innings of three hit, no run baseball today. Buchholz does have two remaining options on his contract for 2016 and 2017, but the Red Sox aren’t sure if they will pick them up. Could this signing mean that the Red Sox are going to let Buchholz walk? That is probably not the case. Whether Buchholz walks or not will definitely depend on the type of season he will have this year. Will we see hi, return to 2013 form or will he have a repeat of his 2014 season, a season that saw his ERA rise to over 5.00.

Also, with Porcello being a ground ball pitcher, it would probably help if they had a good defensive first baseman in the infield for the next couple of years. This could mean the Red Sox will open contract extension talks with slugger Mike Napoli, who has been one of the top first baseman in the game and also is in his final year of his contract.

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