Rick Porcello Dominates Angels While Subject of Trade Rumors

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal is in Detroit ahead of tomorrow’s Fox broadcast of the Tigers-Angels game and he reported early in the evening that the Tigers were willing to include prized prospect Jacob Turner in a trade with Colorado for Ubaldo Jimenez. Shortly thereafter, word filtered out that the Rockies were asking not only for Turner from the Tigers, but with either Max Scherzer or Rick Porcello thrown in as well. By the end of the game, Danny Knobler was reporting the Tigers were no longer in the running for Jimenez.

In the meantime, all Porcello did was do his best to show the Tigers that he wasn’t a guy they should be thinking about trading away.

Porcello served up a solo home run on the second pitch of the game, but after a two-out single later in the first, he sat down 11 straight batters before back-to-back hits lead to the second Angels run in the fifth. Each time Porcello allowed a run, however, his teammates got him one back. Porcello has just one strikeout through five, but then wound up with six by the time his night ended; a full eight innings in total. Porcello has been throwing harder than he did earlier in the year and it appears as if he was featuring his secondray pitches often tonight as well. More than the pitch selection, though, was the pitch location. Porcello seemed to be spot-on all night.

It’s easy to forget that Porcello is still just 22 years old, though he’s in the midst of his third season in the major leagues. He perhaps hasn’t shown the kind of overall progression that we might have liked to see at this point. You have to consider thought that 99 percent of 22-year-old pitchers are getting to develop their game in the minor leagues, not being counted upon to help carry a pitching staff in the heat of a pennant race. Porcello has had ordinary results but remains an extraordinary talent. To trade him would be foolish.

The Tigers need another starter this year and beyond. If a trade of Turner could have landed them Jimenez, then that would have been great. But Colorado wanted more and Detroit balked at the price. I’m glad they did. That said, they’d better be gettiong something done on another hurler and soon.

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