This one is like shooting turkeys in a barrel or in this instance something significantly larger – a turkey is a very big bird. Step right up, Rick Porcello, and your league-leading losses (17) and home runs allowed (38).
All season long the mantra was mechanics as Porcello was attempting to find the pitching magic of 2016. He failed. The 2017 season became an extended march of Porcello’s playoff performance of 2016 and that continued right into the 2017 postseason. Porcello was simply the Porcello of old.
Porcello apparently has the same disease that inflicts the Boston staff when the real games (playoffs) are on the line – failure. Porcello and the remaining brethren get you there but seem to vaporize with the extra attention, pressure, and talent that surfaces in crunch time.
I would expect Porcello to be just what he has always been and not the anomaly of 2016 – a solid mid-rotation pitcher who will get you innings and a reasonable shot at having your team come away with a win.