There's a chance Wednesday night's matchup against the Rangers will be Rick Porcello's final outing in a Red Sox uniform.
The right-hander is set to hit unrestricted free agency following the season -- a process he hasn't gone through in his 11-year career. Although there's plenty of uncertainty heading into the offseason, Porcello isn't letting it get to him.
"You know my situation," Porcello told WEEI.com's Rob Bradford. "You know what I’m headed into. I have no idea what is going to happen. We’ll see. Until you get to an offseason and you see what is going to be there for you don’t really know what is going to affect you."
Porcello was drafted in the first round by ex-Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski back in 2009 when Dombrowski was the Detroit Tigers general manager. After spending the last few seasons with Dombrowski in Boston, it'll be someone else making the decision on whether to pay the 30-year-old to return.
Regardless of who that'll be, Porcello knows the decision is out of his control.
"A lot of times as players you don’t really know what the front office is thinking if you are being prioritized by who, or what for … You don’t really think about it, or at least I don’t," Porcello told Bradford. "I just kind of focus on what I can focus on and that’s the clubhouse and what’s in front of me. There are just so many things that go on in the front office that determine what path they’re going to go so it’s really hard to think about and try and keep up with the thought process and what is going on."
It's been a disappointing season as a whole for the Red Sox, and especially nightmarish for Porcello who has posted career-worsts in both ERA (5.56) and WHIP (1.49). The 2016 American League Cy Young award winner may have trouble finding an attractive deal on the open market, which points to the possibility of Boston bringing him back on a reasonable short-term contract.
But in the event that the Red Sox decide to move on without Porcello in their rotation, he seems to have the right mindset heading into the next chapter of his career.
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