Red Sox vs. Indians Roster Breakdown: Starting rotation comparison

The No. 3 Who Shouldn’t Be

Rick Porcello

Isn’t it crazy how just two seasons ago, the Red Sox had five pitchers with no discernible top-of-the-rotation starter, and here we are now putting the reigning AL Cy Young award winner at the No. 3 spot? The Red Sox rotation has come a long way since the dark days of 2015, and the turnaround of Rick Porcello is one of the main factors.

In the first season of his four-year, $82.5 million extension, Porcello turned a potential albatross contract into a potential steal. Racking up a league-leading 22 wins (which is still impressive even if wins are a dumb stat), Porcello managed 223 innings, a 3.15 ERA, and a 1.01 WHIP, all of which are career bests.

For a pitcher with Porcello’s repertoire and previous career numbers, some regression is expected. But it seems like he has fully regained his ability to locate his two-seamer down to generate ground balls while using his four-seamer to elevate and blow hitters away. Few No. 3 pitchers have as positive a 2017 projection as Porcello, but the Indians’ have one of those select few.

Danny Salazar

Salazar runs into a similar problem as Carrasco. He’s a fearsome pitcher when he’s on the mound – his career 3.58 FIP and 10.1 K/9 finally earned him an All-Star appearance in 2016 – but he’s only made 30 starts once (due to both inconsistency and injury), and even in that season he only threw 185 innings.

Salazar’s 3.87 ERA from 2016 is a bit deceiving, as his first half ERA was 2.75 before he battled through arm injury and struggled to a 7.44 ERA in eight second half starts. But nonetheless, while his ability to pitch effectively is settled, his durability remains a legitimate question going forward. How many innings can the Indians realistically expect out of Salazar? I’d wager not as much as the Red Sox expect out of Porcello, and given their similar levels of recent performance, the nod has to go to Boston.

Advantage: Red Sox