Rick Porcello is going home, and the Boston Red Sox have a hole in their starting rotation.
The free-agent right-handed pitcher has agreed to a one-year deal with the New York Mets, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Thursday morning. Porcello’s deal is worth $10 million, according to Rosenthal. According to Jon Heyman, Porcello had multi-year offers but apparently chose the one-year, prove-it deal with the Mets in an attempt to rebuild his value after a lackluster 2019 season.
Porcello, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2016, is coming off his worst season in Boston where he went 14-12 with a career-worst 5.52 ERA.
The New Jersey native has been the picture of durability throughout his entire career. Porcello has made no fewer than 27 starts in each season dating all the way back to 2009. In five years with the Red Sox, the 30-year-old averaged 32 starts and 193 innings pitched per season as a stalwart in a rotation that won three division titles and the 2018 World Series. On that run to the Fall Classic, Porcello gave the Red Sox some valuable innings out of the rotation and bullpen, appearing in five games — three starts — and allowing six earned runs over 15 1/3 innings.
