The ink isn’t even dry, yet Rick Porcello’s contract with the Boston Red Sox already looks questionable. The right-hander is 0-6 over his last seven starts and is 4-8 with a 5.54 ERA this season.
But make no mistake. Porcello isn’t fat and happy. In fact, the 26-year-old desperately wants to show the Red Sox were justified in committing $82.5 million for the next five years beyond 2015.
“It’s easy to let frustration set in because I’m in a new environment,” Porcello said after Friday’s 4-3 win, in which he allowed three runs over six innings while not factoring into the decision. “I want to prove myself to my teammates, to the organization and to the fans. And when that doesn’t go right, you can continue to let that frustration build and that’s probably going to lead you down the wrong path.”
Porcello is dead set on overcoming such frustration.
The Red Sox immediately identified Porcello as someone they wanted to build around after acquiring him from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and reliever Alex Wilson last offseason. He’s younger than most pitchers who hit free agency, he has a solid major league track record and his work ethic is impeccable.
Porcello might never be an ace, to use a popular phrase, but the Red Sox took a calculated risk that he’d perform up to his new contract in what figured to be the prime years of his career.
So far, it’s been a train wreck, though Porcello pitched better Saturday than he had of late. The Red Sox sit in last place in the American League East and Porcello has been among the worst starters in the league from a statistical standpoint.
The whole debacle obviously reflects poorly on Porcello’s contract, even if passing judgment might be a bit premature. After all, he’s just 15 starts into his Red Sox tenure and his new deal doesn’t even kick in until next season.
“There’s adjustments. There’s adjustments every year,” Porcello said. “Obviously this is a different adjustment for me. I was in one place for a while (six years in Detroit) and you kind of get taken away from that and you have to re-learn everything.
“It’s a new division where you’re facing these teams once a year as opposed to three, four, five, six times a year is a different story. I’m adjusting to that, as well.”
Porcello isn’t thrilled with his performance, in large because he’s still working hard and preparing with maximum effort. The results simply haven’t been there. He doesn’t intend to stop battling, though. He’s looking at the slump as motivation, if anything, and trying to maintain his composure.
“I want to throw well for the city, the organization, do all those things,” Porcello told the Boston Herald after Saturday’s game. “I’d be lying to you if I told you that I wasn’t frustrated with the way this past month has gone, or whatever this funk is that I’ve been in.
“But that added pressure in thinking that way takes an adverse effect for me. I almost have to block that out and focus on one pitch at a time and let the results happen. I haven’t felt like I’ve been too far off these last couple of starts.”
The early returns on Porcello have been bad. But he has four-plus seasons and more than 82.5 million reasons to show that 15 starts won’t dictate who he truly is as a pitcher.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
