Rick Porcello was once the future of the Detroit Tigers, but these days he looks like a pitcher that is lost. That was never more evident than on Saturday when he lasted just 2/3 of an inning against the Los Angeles Angels. In that short time, he managed to allow nine hits, a walk and nine earned runs.
After Saturday’s performance, Porcello has three bad outings in three starts on the season. His earned run average is at 11.08 and his walks and hits per innings pitched is at 2.000. I could go on and on with the horrible number but at this point it would just be piling on.
The one ray of sunshine was the work of Drew Smyly out of the bullpen. He picked up the slack by going 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out seven and allowed just four hits and no walks.
The time has come for manager Jim Leyland to pull Porcello out of the rotation and replace him with Smyly. Smyly deserves a chance to prove that he can be a solid starter in the bigs. As for Porcello, it is probably time for a change of scenery. He was the object of desire for several teams this past offseason. The team probably should have dealt him then when his stock was still pretty high. After his lousy start to the season he would bring back less in a trade but it still should be done. The Tigers can’t afford to wait and see if he will find his way. Porcello just might need to hear a new voice in his ear to be able to escape this funk he is in.
Darren Pare is a MLB writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter at dpare71, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
