Right-hander Rick Porcello explains why he ultimately signed a one-year deal with the New York Mets this offseason.
Back in December, the New York Mets added firepower to their rotation by inking a one-year, $10 million deal with right-hander Rick Porcello. The 31-year-old veteran possesses a powerful resume, having won the American League Cy Young Award in 2016 and a World Series title with the Red Sox in 2018.
Porcello will now be joining a rotation that includes other big-named pitchers such as Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, and back-to-back National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. He may be overshadowed by some of these individuals, so why did he choose to come to Queens?
The veteran pitcher ultimately points the fingers at the team’s talent and its ability to win.
“What made me want to come here and sign with the Mets, first and foremost, was watching from afar the guys they have and the resiliency they showed last year, they had a great year,” Porcello said. “I’m looking at Pete Alonso. [Jacob] deGrom won another Cy Young. There’s a great foundation and core of really talented players here, and they were right there at the end, right on the cusp of getting into the playoffs.
“And once you get your foot in the door in the postseason, anything can happen. And I’ve been fortunate enough to experience some postseason baseball over prior years in my career, and there’s nothing like it, and that’s one of the most important things to me is winning. And this is what I saw, in my opportunities, as one of the best opportunities to do that.”
“On the cusp” is no joke. The Mets weren’t mathematically eliminated from postseason contention until the final week of the regular season. It was pretty remarkable they even made it that far. At one point, the ballclub was 11 games under-.500. Nevertheless, they finished 86-76 and in third place in the NL East division.
Porcello also mentioned he was a Mets fan growing up. The right-hander is originally from Morristown, NJ, which is about an hour away from Queens.
It’s unclear where in the rotation Porcello will find himself. That decision will be up to newly-hired manager Carlos Beltrán and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner
Last year with Boston, Porcello finished 14-12 with a 5.52 ERA and a 1.394 WHIP through 32 starts (174.1 total innings pitched).
