The Boston Red Sox wasted little time locking up Rick Porcello, who would have been a free agent after this season. According to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, the team announced it has agreed to a four-year extension worth $82.5 million with the 26-year-old right-handed pitcher.
Speier provided the yearly breakdown of the contract:
Porcello gets limited no-trade protection, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:
He becomes the highest-paid pitcher in team history per average annual value, per Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston.
The Red Sox acquired Porcello in December 2014 for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. With Porcello’s contract expiring after the 2015 season, some wondered if he would sign a multi-year extension with Boston before hitting free agency.
On Sunday, Porcello announced that once the season got underway, any extension talks would be tabled.
“I don’t want any distractions when we start the season,” he said, per WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. “I just want to focus on pitching.”
Porcello is coming off a 2014 season in which he went 15-13 and posted an ERA of 3.43. In terms of advanced metrics, he finished with a 3.67 FIP and 3.68 xFIP, while giving the Detroit Tigers 2.7 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs.
The Guardian‘s Jonathan Bernhardt wonders whether Boston is paying Porcello a little more than his market value:
Hardball Talk’s Matthew Pouliot countered that $20 million a year for Porcello isn’t all that crazy:
ESPN’s Jason Wojciechowski pointed out that the extension allows Porcello to cash in once again in a few years:
Whether or not you believe the Red Sox made a bad deal, they ensured that Porcello won’t be leaving any time soon via free agency. In addition, the length of the contract means Boston has a little more long-term flexibility than it would have with a six- or seven-year deal.
Signing Porcello to an extension would also seem to take the Red Sox out of the Cole Hamels hunt once and for all, though that remains to be seen.
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