The 2016 regular season is drawing to a close for the Boston Red Sox, which leaves manager John Farrell in an unfamiliar position. With Boston now holding a slim lead in the American League Wild Card race, and trailing the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays by a game, Farrell now has to start considering who would start in a potential one-game Wild Card playoff for the Red Sox – David Price or Rick Porcello.
The 2016 season truly began for Boston in December 2015 when they inked Price, a five-time All-Star, to a seven-year, $217 million contract. Coming off their second consecutive last-place finish in the AL East – and third in the past four seasons – the Red Sox opened up their wallets for Price in order to stabilize a rotation that had been underwhelming, underperforming and overpaid in 2015. Spearheading that mediocrity was Porcello.
Boston acquired Porcello in the 2014 offseason when they traded away outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in the hopes of bringing in an ace for their pitching staff. Instead, the Red Sox were treated to Porcello’s worst statistical season, all while paying him over 12 million dollars.
However, the right-hander has flipped the script in his second year in Boston, recording a league-high 19 wins while pitching his way into the Cy Young discussion. Porcello has been perfect at Fenway Park, with a 13-0 record there this season. If the season were on the line in Boston, who else would you want pitching than a player who leads the MLB in wins and has yet to lose at home?
While the breadth of the media scrutiny has shifted to Price in 2016, Porcello has been able to succeed. Without the pressures of living up to the most expensive contract in the Red Sox rotation, and without the glaring eye of the Boston media scrutinizing his every outing, the former first-round pick has finally been pitching up to the caliber that John Henry and company saw while he was playing in Detroit.
A history of cracking under the immense pressure of playing in Boston along with a lucrative contract gives this columnist hesitation. If Porcello couldn’t rise to the occasion in a regular season game in 2015 with a last place team, why wouldn’t he unravel in a one-game playoff with his team’s season on the line and the entire city and nation watching? Does his stellar season as Price’s understudy really warrant complete faith in a guy who couldn’t even record 10 wins just a year ago?
Plus, that’s the reason why the Red Sox signed David Price: to win big games in October. If you’re John Farrell, how does it look if you forgo starting your ace in the biggest game of the season and instead go with a starter who has a history of melting down when the heat gets turned up in Boston? Make the right choice and you’re a genius who puts aside contract size and goes with this season’s best pitcher. Make the wrong choice and you could find yourself in the unemployment line.
Price is the better pitcher, by far. His time in the majors has proven that. In nine years in the big leagues, the former Vanderbilt Commodore has won a Cy Young, has won at least 10 games every season and has by far the most experience against AL East teams than any pitcher in the Red Sox staff.
With Baltimore, New York and Toronto all looking to make playoff pushes, it looks more and more likely that Boston will have to play one of its divisional opponents for the final playoff spot. The only other team in the running for the Wild Card spot? The Detroit Tigers, Price’s former team.
Experience and an impressive resume that features 43 wins over any AL East team not named the Boston Red Sox should garner a winner-take-all start. Additionally, if the Red Sox played the Wild Card game at Fenway, Price would be pitching in a place where he has gone 14-8 in his career.
However, if Price has an Achilles’ heel, it is playoff baseball. As a major league starter, Price has gone to the postseason six times and pitched in eight series. In his 14 appearances – including eight starts – the southpaw has gone an abysmal 2-7 while crafting a 5.12 ERA – almost two points higher than his career average.
With John Farrell’s job being called for by numerous sports pundits in Boston, this potential decision could be the difference between a contract extension and a pink slip for the Red Sox skipper. And while it appears there is no right answer for Farrell, there is a way Boston can vault its manager out of the hot seat – by winning the AL East. Then we’ll only have to argue over who starts game one.
