Red Sox: Has Rick Porcello found himself in Boston?
By Tyler Mason
Rick Porcello has been a key contributor so far this season for the Boston Red Sox. It’s funny because fans have been waiting over a year now to say that.
14 games into the season and the Boston Red Sox are sitting at 7-7. Not exactly what fans were hoping for, but we should definitely not be complaining. The offense is staying consistent for the most part, and the starting pitching has come around to make a lot of quality starts. One of those pitchers is the $82.5 million man, Rick Porcello.
After Porcello’s first 3 starts he has proved a lot of fans wrong. He is keeping the Red Sox in games and has given 2 consecutive quality starts, which is surprising coming from him. Before the season started, I would have never thought that as of right now, Rick Porcello was going to be 3-0, which is leading the team in wins. It’s simply mind blowing in my opinion.
Being a 21 year old college student, I don’t think I should be getting gray hairs. But thanks to Porcello in 2015, he may have caused that to happen.
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It was an absolute nightmare watching Porcello step onto the mound every fifth day last season. Watching the opposing team hit balls that sailed over the Green Monster gets old pretty quickly if you are a Red Sox fan. His inability to locate pitches along with consistently throwing hanging curveballs for batters to crush made me think that the contract he signed was a huge mistake for the Red Sox.
We come back to 2016, where I was saying he was proving me wrong. It seems to be that this has happened before with another big time free agent the Red Sox signed in the past.
On December 16th, 2009, the Boston Red Sox signed John Lackey to a 5-year deal worth $82.5 million. Almost identical contracts if you were to compare it with Porcello’s. In Lackey’s first two seasons in Boston, he struggled to say the least. From 2010-2011, Lackey went a subpar 26-23 with a 5.26 ERA. Nothing to brag about if you’re a Red Sox fan. Also, the allegations of drinking beers and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse during games didn’t help his cause to become a fan favorite in Boston. During the 2012 season, Lackey went to DL with an elbow injury and later needed Tommy John surgery, ending his season for good.
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When Lackey returned in 2013, he looked in shape and motivated to prove to people that he will be the pitcher he once was in the past. We all know what happened in 2013. Lackey was a key contributor to the Red Sox World Series title that season. His ability to work late into games and always being a big time competitor won Red Sox Nation’s hearts.
What I am getting at is this. It takes more than a year for some players to get used to the Boston atmosphere. If you aren’t successful at first, the Boston media will eat you alive. You’ve seen it with Lackey, and even Carl Crawford back in 2012.
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Rick Porcello, like many players, needed to get used to the playing in Boston. As you can see, it may take over a season. If this is the case where Porcello is now used to the Boston media and atmosphere, then we may have another solid pitcher in the rotation.