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In a shocking report by USAToday's Bob Nightengale, 'rival executives' point to the desire of the Red Sox to slice their huge $230+ million payroll—perhaps by putting Rick Porcello on the trading block. Porcello, who turns 30 later this month, is owed $21,125,000 in 2019—the last year before he becomes a free-agent. Interestingly, Dave Dombrowski dealt Porcello once before—to the Red Sox from the Tigers for Yoenis Cespspedes in 2014. The righty had a solid "bounce-back" 2018 for the Red Sox—going 17-7 with a 4.28 ERA. He gave up just 177 hits in his 191.1 innings of work over his 33 starts. The number of home runs he gave up went down sharply as well—going from 38 in 2017 to 27 in 2018. In the post-season, Porcello was beaten up some in the ALCS, but shone in both the ALDS and World Series with sub-2.00 ERAs. Plus, he can hit the snot out of the ball in NL parks. This report is a bit of shocker—although Boston's payroll is already at $232.1 million—which would kick-in the third level of MLB's luxury tax. Stay tuned, this would be a huge development if it goes down!