When right-handed starter Rick Porcello was traded from the Detroit Tigers to the Boston Red Sox during the offseason, even his closest friends believed he would play out his contract, become a free agent after this season and sign with the highest bidder.
And, oh, there would be bidders for a young, clean-cut guy — with a nasty sinker — who has won at least 10 games in each of his first six major-league seasons.
But Porcello opted to get paid now and signed a four-year extension through 2019 that will pay him a total of $95 million over that span, including the $12.