The Boston Red Sox have signed right-hander Rick Porcello to a four-year contract extension worth $82.5 million.
The 26-year-old, who was acquired from the Detroit Tigers in the offseason, will receive a $500,000 signing bonus in 2016 when the extension takes effect. His annual salary in 2016 and 2017 will be $20 million and increase to $21 million in 2018 and 2019.
The new deal will keep Porcello in Boston until he’s 30 years old.
“I knew the opportunity in entering free agency, but when I had first got to camp and saw the way (things were done) from ownership to (GM Ben Cherington) to the coaching staff and the players that were there, and how everything was run from top to bottom, and the devotion to win a World Series, I knew that was something I wanted particularly to be a part of,” Porcello wrote on theplayerstribute.com on Monday. “It wasn’t a very difficult decision for me at that point to stay here.”
Porcello compiled a 76-63 career record in six seasons with the Tigers. In 2014, he set career highs with wins (15) and innings pitched (2014 2/3).
He is scheduled to start Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies, who will start right-hander Aaron Harang.
Porcello is 11-6 with a 4.49 ERA in 24 interleague outings, including a 12-4 victory over Philadelphia on July 28, 2013 when he yielded three runs in six innings as a member of the Detroit Tigers.
Harang, who allowed eight earned runs and 19 hits in 15 innings over four spring starts, begins his 14th major league season with his eighth team. The 6-7, 261-pound Californian made 33 starts with Atlanta last season while lowering his career ERA to 4.21 after going 5-12 in 26 turns with Seattle and the New York Mets in 2013. Harang is 14-12 with a 3.09 ERA in 36 interleague outings, including 2-2, 5.08 in five turns covering 28 1/3 innings against the Red Sox.
The Ramirez factor
If the Red Sox are to win their fourth title in 12 years this, it will likely involve a major contribution from their new left fielder Hanley Ramirez. He belted two home runs and drove in five runs in Monday’s 8-0 season-opening victory and tries to keep impressing his new and old employer when the Red Sox take on the Phillies Wednesday and Thursday.
Ramirez was a hot prospect in the Boston organization when he was traded to Florida on Thanksgiving Day 2005 in a blockbuster deal involving right-hander Josh Beckett, a key figure when the Red Sox won the World Series two seasons later. Fast forward 10 years, and Ramirez — a 31-year-old converted shortstop — finds himself in the cleanup spot of a lineup which is expected to have little trouble scoring runs.
The same cannot be said for Philadelphia, which mustered only three hits Monday and appears destined for its third straight losing season after finishing .500 or better in the previous 10 years. Rick Porcello makes his Red Sox debut after going 76-63 with Detroit in his first six major-league seasons and opposes Aaron Harang, who dealt with back issues in spring training.
GAME NOTES: Ramirez is 10-for-29 with five home runs against Harang. … Boston on Monday hit five home runs — including two by Dustin Pedroia — after not hitting five or more in a game last season. … CF Odubel Herrera on Monday went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts while becoming the second rookie to make the Phillies opening day roster since 1970 (Freddy Galvis in 2012), when Larry Bowa and Denny Boyle broke camp with the team.