Who will be the Red Sox’ ace in 2017: Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, or David Price?
Debate the answer with Chad Finn and Boston sports fans at The Sports Q.
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Rick Porcello is getting the start on Opening Day according to [John] Farrell. Makes sense since he won the Cy Young Award last year and he’s not the new guy in town like Chris Sale is. But will he be the Sox’ best starter this season? To me, Sale is a no-brainer to be the ace. – Josh F.
Well, I think that Porcello getting the nod as the Opening Day starter became obvious once Henry Owens was sent down Tuesday, right? Being the other obvious choice and all …
With you on all of that, Josh. Porcello deserves the Opening Day start considering, as you said, that he was voted the league’s best pitcher last year and did it for the Red Sox. The only way he wouldn’t deserve it is if someone in the front office figured out a way to clone the 1999-2000 version of Pedro Martinez. And while I’m sure they’re working on it, I doubt Clone Pedro will be ready for the opener April 3 against the Pirates. So Porcello it is.
I do think Sale will be their best pitcher this year, though. Porcello was truly excellent last season, but he got an AL-best 7.6 runs of support per nine innings. I doubt that happens again, and if he even regresses slightly in his own performance, he’ll be a down-ballot Cy Young candidate rather than the frontrunner. Sale is the more overpowering pitcher — he’s averaged at least a strikeout per inning every season of his career — and should see an uptick in run support from what he was used to with the White Sox. He’s the ace, and Porcello is a heck of a No. 2 starter.
As for Price? I mean, who knows? If he makes it through the season without another visit to Dr. James Andrews, that would seem like a victory at this point. He was better than he got credit for last year, but it would be foolish to count on him for anything significant at this point.
So let’s eliminate Price from the conversation. (I’m sure you did anyway.) Who will be the better pitcher this year, Sale or Porcello? I’ll see you in the comments.
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