Red Sox sign David Price

peritas

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Nov 9, 2015
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Thanks for the info about the option discussion in the MLB forum, but the "not a thoughtful person" swipe is uncalled for, untrue and petty. It's the kind of thing gerbils who can't articulate a well-reasoned argument say to those who can and do. I'm done discussing options here. Thanks again for the signpost to the MLB forum.
Ask any banker who gets value
 

peritas

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Nov 9, 2015
31
The mods need to jump in here. Although it is possible that the Red Sox could benefit if Price exercises his option, only an option holder (i.e. Price ) gets value at the time the option is negotiated. Price and not the Sox got value for the option. This is basic economics.
 

AlNipper49

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Yeah guys, enough about the option. I keep on clicking this thread looking for new info, only to find the same repetitive circular discussions.

If anyone wants to continue the debate why not start a thread about player options pros/cons?
 

Rasputin

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The absence of the Yankees in the entire process is another overlooked factor as far as the "what changed" question in terms of why the Sox chose Price and now to hand out the biggest FA pitching contract in team/league history. For practically every other potential FA signing since the dawn of free agency, there has been the specter of the Yankees swooping in. We saw it with Mussina, we saw it with Teixeira, and others. That has more or less forced the Red Sox to explore alternative ways to bring in talent either by trade or by going after "second tier" guys instead. For once, the Yankees are dead silent in the free agent game, and suddenly the Sox are big players.

I don't think it is a significant factor but I have to think it played into things maybe 4-5%.
I'm not sure it's that small. Having the Yankees involved on every big free agent had to drive the prices up. I guess to some extent, the Dodgers are doing the same, but it's not really the same thing. Knowing the price isn't going to get artificially inflated by the Yankees showing up has to make free agency more palatable.

Also, the facial hair thing is hilarious.
 
Aug 22, 2014
61
Thanks for double-checking that.

So, yeah, that average difference is basically the cost of Price + Greinke.
If that counts as "without a significantly bigger payroll," then that's quite the laugh.
I guess.

This isn't as funny to me though:

2014

NYY: $2.4M per Win, 2nd place
BOS: $2.3M per Win, 5th place

2015

NYY: $2.5M per Win, 2nd place
BOS: $2.4M per Win, 5th place

2016 current estimates

NYY: $212m, 41.2war
BOS: $204m, 43.4war

(doesn't even include Craig's salary, and assumes 8war more from Pablo/hanley than we got last year)

2017 committments

NYY: $120M
BOS: $160M
 

terrisus

formerly: imgran
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Aug 22, 2014
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What happened to:



Just abandoning that completely now that it's been proven beyond foolish?
if it makes you feel better to laugh at the yanks for spending 15% more salary on their 2nd place playoff team than we did on our last place team that's fine, but it doesn't make me feel better.
 

Rasputin

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if it makes you feel better to laugh at the yanks for spending 15% more salary on their 2nd place playoff team than we did on our last place team that's fine, but it doesn't make me feel better.
And it doesn't at all seem important to you that if the Sox had matched that payroll number, they almost certainly wouldn't have finished last and would have had a decent chance of finishing higher than the Yankees?

I know I'd rather have the Sox last four years than the Yankees last four years.

I know I'd bet on the Sox to have a better next five years than the Yankees.
 

Leather

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Re: the Yankees - One of the reasons some folks here don't like Price is because he's unfiltered and apparently has a strong "Take me or leave me, I don't care" attitude. Not only for his twitter activity and Papi Plunking Proclivities, but even for instance, his showing up in jeans to the meeting where everyone else wore a suit referenced in that article above, or asking for hamburgers from Werner. He's clearly a guy that values an ability to actively not give a fuck. With both the deep-pocketed Red Sox and Cardinals interested at the outset, it's entirely plausible that he just didn't want to feign interest in a team he knew that he would be miserable playing for (the "you must give a fuck" Yankees).

The guy, for better and for worse, seems allergic to bullshit.

FTA:

“Joe wants us to be comfortable in our own skin. He doesn't care what we do in the locker room. He doesn't care what type of music we play, how loud we play it. He doesn't care what we wear to the field, because that's not going to help us be better baseball players. That (would give) us more reasons to mess up, more reasons to get a fine, more reasons to be mad about coming to the ballpark because you have to wear slacks and a collared shirt in 100-degree weather.

“It's a joke to me, that I had less rules in college than I would on some major league teams. That's not my style, man. I couldn't do it on some of these teams I hear about. I couldn't do it. I'm a grown man...I wouldn't stay [with the Yankees] very long then,” he responded. “I wouldn't sign a long-term deal there. Those rules, that's old-school baseball. I was born in '85. That's not for me. That's not something I want to be a part of.”
 

chrisfont9

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"I didn't think we were ever really strident," Henry told WEEI.com after the press conference. "The media made a big deal out of that one comment. But I would say this: wasn't there a famous New Englander who said, 'Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds?'"
Dear god... It's a FOOLISH consistency that's the hobgoblin of little minds! Get it right Henry!
 

chrisfont9

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CC is also a much different case from David Price because he is a huge man and then it also turned out he was an alcoholic. Neither of those things make him a bad person or anything but they definitely make his long term deal look a lot worse in hindsight.
Also what about Mussina? He got a record deal from the Yankees that I don't recall us ever laughing at. The MFY's problem has been (in the past) their inability to do anything BUT hand out massive contracts like they were constructing a fantasy roster. But sadly it's no longer the case, and it's wrong to act like they all were bad, and therefore all future massive payouts are similarly bad.
 

phenweigh

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Re: the Yankees - One of the reasons some folks here don't like Price is because he's unfiltered and apparently has a strong "Take me or leave me, I don't care" attitude. Not only for his twitter activity and Papi Plunking Proclivities, but even for instance, his showing up in jeans to the meeting where everyone else wore a suit referenced in that article above, or asking for hamburgers from Werner. He's clearly a guy that values an ability to actively not give a fuck. With both the deep-pocketed Red Sox and Cardinals interested at the outset, it's entirely plausible that he just didn't want to feign interest in a team he knew that he would be miserable playing for (the "you must give a fuck" Yankees).

The guy, for better and for worse, seems allergic to bullshit.

FTA:
Interesting take. My comment is that he seems allergic to what he perceives as bullshit. And on reflection that's what sticks in my craw about the Papi feud. It seems that other players have had their on-field beefs with Papi carry over into the media, but then Papi reaches out and smooths it over. When it happened with Price, he chose to stubbornly stick to his guns for what seemed to me a bullshit reason, that Papi acted bigger than the game. What? For bat flipping? As if there aren't dozens of guys who bat flip? Want to think the Yankees are full of shit for their professional appearance policy. OK, but that seems like David Price feels he's bigger than games premier franchise (evil though they are).

Papi has moved on and welcomes Price, and I will root for him to have great success in a Red Sox uniform. I'm sympathetic to the idea that how you dress, or shave, or what music you listen to is unrelated to your performance or what kind of teammate you are. I still think he's an ass, which hardly makes him unique. What makes him unique is his ability to pitch.
 

JimD

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Papi has moved on and welcomes Price, and I will root for him to have great success in a Red Sox uniform. I'm sympathetic to the idea that how you dress, or shave, or what music you listen to is unrelated to your performance or what kind of teammate you are. I still think he's an ass, which hardly makes him unique. What makes him unique is his ability to pitch.
I'm OK with Price being an ass, just as I was with Josh Beckett being an ass, because they are unapologetic about it. How many times have we seen the stories come out about what a massive tool Player X is or was, and we're like 'Whoa, never saw thought he was that bad'? We don't really know what any of these guys are like out of the spotlight, and that includes beloved icons like Ortiz and Tom Brady. All I ask is that our new ace becomes 'David F'in Price' in October - I don't need him to pretend to be a swell guy.
 
Aug 22, 2014
61
And it doesn't at all seem important to you that if the Sox had matched that payroll number, they almost certainly wouldn't have finished last and would have had a decent chance of finishing higher than the Yankees?

I know I'd rather have the Sox last four years than the Yankees last four years.

I know I'd bet on the Sox to have a better next five years than the Yankees.
yes 2013 trumps all. but the yanks have been much better than us for the most part in recent years. and don't look now but their payroll is in better shape than ours going forward, and suddenly they have a pretty snazzy young core of talent in mlb and aaa to look forward to as well.

me, i'm not laughing at the yanks anymore.
 

geoduck no quahog

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Of all the articles we've posted, haven't seen one yet that mentions Christian Vazquez. Yes, he's a huge question mark that needs to show he's still capable - but if his superpowers remain viable, doesn't he represent another reason for a pitcher to choose Boston? The comp would be if Molina had any impact on someone picking St. Louis.

From and old (2011) St. Louis Post-Dispatch article:

...Carpenter is clearly right, practically and statistically. A runner picked off first or a runner caught stealing at second is a runner who cannot be a run. Measuring how a catcher's ERA reflects his handling of the game, his calling of the pitches and, obviously, the number of bases he limits an opposing team to taking (let alone stealing), is reflected but not quantified in his "ERA." Molina cutting 1 1/2 runs off the ERA comes close, especially if it's true for his career and from pitcher to pitcher.

For now, it's safe to say that if the Cardinals lead the league in ERA - as the starters did in 2010 - it's not just the arms throwing the ball.

It's also the glove catching it.

As Carpenter would say: Obviously.
 

terrisus

formerly: imgran
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if it makes you feel better to laugh at the yanks for spending 15% more salary on their 2nd place playoff team than we did on our last place team that's fine, but it doesn't make me feel better.
but the yanks have been much better than us for the most part in recent years. and don't look now but their payroll is in better shape than ours going forward
So we're just looking at the past 2 years and then hypothesizing about the future now?

That's a far cry from your original statement of:

isn't it time we stop laughing at a team that keeps finishing ahead of us without a significantly bigger payroll?
I'm not interested in chasing constantly moving goalposts, however, so if you want to consider your current line in the sand as some sort of victory, go ahead.
Meanwhile - yes, I'm going to continue to laugh at the Yankees.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Of all the articles we've posted, haven't seen one yet that mentions Christian Vazquez. Yes, he's a huge question mark that needs to show he's still capable - but if his superpowers remain viable, doesn't he represent another reason for a pitcher to choose Boston? The comp would be if Molina had any impact on someone picking St. Louis.

From and old (2011) St. Louis Post-Dispatch article:
By the time that article was written, Molina had already rung up three GGs, two All Star appearances and Carpenter had been pitching to him since he was first brought up. Vazquez has played 55 games and above and beyond his TJ hasn't even showed he will be a viable starter at C because we don't know if he can hit enough to be more than a backup.

So I would have to guess the answer to the bolded is no.
 

DJnVa

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yes 2013 trumps all. but the yanks have been much better than us for the most part in recent years. and don't look now but their payroll is in better shape than ours going forward, and suddenly they have a pretty snazzy young core of talent in mlb and aaa to look forward to as well.

me, i'm not laughing at the yanks anymore.
I know. I wish the Sox had a good core of young kids they could count on going forward. If I could pick, I'd love a young SS, maybe a catcher or two, perhaps a few OFers. Sigh.
 

Rasputin

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I know. I wish the Sox had a good core of young kids they could count on going forward. If I could pick, I'd love a young SS, maybe a catcher or two, perhaps a few OFers. Sigh.
Some real good studs lower in the system would help, too, like maybe an outfielder, a stud who hits bombs, and a real young kid who pitches like he's thirty and has utterly nasty stuff.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Interesting take. My comment is that he seems allergic to what he perceives as bullshit. And on reflection that's what sticks in my craw about the Papi feud. It seems that other players have had their on-field beefs with Papi carry over into the media, but then Papi reaches out and smooths it over. When it happened with Price, he chose to stubbornly stick to his guns for what seemed to me a bullshit reason, that Papi acted bigger than the game. What? For bat flipping? As if there aren't dozens of guys who bat flip?
Do we have evidence that Papi ever attempted to "reach out and smooth it over" with Price?

I have to admit, the more I re-peruse the news stories from that incident & aftermath, the more Price seems to have the best of it. He rightly called BS on Papi's "this is war" rant--let's be honest, if some slugger had gone off that way after Pedro plunked him, most of the people around here who are down on Price would have been merciless about it. Rooting for the laundry is one thing; letting the laundry dictate your view of reality is quite another.
 

phenweigh

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I admit I was going on memory, but this article backs up my recollection. https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/05/30/redsox/Yz2UhdlWBraEF1yIfVzWGN/story.html

Ortiz hit two home runs off Price in that game and admired the second one at the plate for a few seconds before jogging around the bases. Friday marked the first time Price had faced Ortiz since that game.
Price yelled at Ortiz at the time and even his girlfriend went on Twitter and criticized Ortiz. The players spoke before the next game and declared the matter settled. But Price apparently did not care to remember that conversation on Friday and Ortiz was livid.
“He apologized to myself and everything was cool. So first at-bat of the season against me, he drilled me? I mean, it’s a war. It’s on,” Ortiz said. “Next time he hits me he better bring the gloves. I have no respect for him no more.”


So the two David's have a little spat in the heat of the moment ... no big deal. They speak later and sensibly cooler heads prevail. (My recollection is that Papi initiated the discussion. And if Price did, well, that's even weirder.) Then months later Price plunks Papi. I fail to see how calling Price's actions BS is clouded by rooting for Red Sox laundry.
 

TheoShmeo

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I admit I was going on memory, but this article backs up my recollection. https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/05/30/redsox/Yz2UhdlWBraEF1yIfVzWGN/story.html

Ortiz hit two home runs off Price in that game and admired the second one at the plate for a few seconds before jogging around the bases. Friday marked the first time Price had faced Ortiz since that game.
Price yelled at Ortiz at the time and even his girlfriend went on Twitter and criticized Ortiz. The players spoke before the next game and declared the matter settled. But Price apparently did not care to remember that conversation on Friday and Ortiz was livid.
“He apologized to myself and everything was cool. So first at-bat of the season against me, he drilled me? I mean, it’s a war. It’s on,” Ortiz said. “Next time he hits me he better bring the gloves. I have no respect for him no more.”


So the two David's have a little spat in the heat of the moment ... no big deal. They speak later and sensibly cooler heads prevail. (My recollection is that Papi initiated the discussion. And if Price did, well, that's even weirder.) Then months later Price plunks Papi. I fail to see how calling Price's actions BS is clouded by rooting for Red Sox laundry.
You are clearly correct.

Price was wrong for being butt hurt over Ortiz watching the second homer. It went over the foul pole and waiting for the ball to be called fair is not something every player would do, but it was not beyond the pale, either. The ball might have landed foul. And even if not, it's not as if Price should have been surprised at Ortiz's styling. It's been going on for years.

Furthermore, it is just as likely that Price was ticked off at giving up two bombs to Ortiz and was conveniently looking for someone to blame other than himself. And that's ignoring that complaining about another player's violation of the supposed "code" or "book" or whatever is lame, in and of itself. If you don't want to watch Ortiz trot around the bases slowly, pitch better. To be clear, I get that many players and media members have a problem with David's antics. But that doesn't make whining about it after you lost two battles and lost a playoff game any better. I wouldn't sanction that any more if a Sox player did it after Bautista, for example, flipped his bat or otherwise styled after a homer.

And, as you said, hitting Ortiz months later after the two had talked on the phone and cleared the air was silly. It made the conversation between the two of them a joke and turn the page already.

All that said, it's a big nothing now. Price and Ortiz have said all the right things and will get along famously as teammates.

But noting that David Price was off base in his handling of the Ortiz situation is hardly an indication of Red Sox bias.
 
Jared Carrabis posted a timeline of his Twitter interactions with Price. They start back in October of 2013 and range from Price blocking Jared to Price giving him a shout out at the press conference. It's pretty great.

The link is to Carrabis' Barstool blog and includes his most recent podcast which details their back and forth the past couple years. You don't have to listen to that, but the twitter postings are funny. If Price pitches well at all, he's gonna be a huge fan favorite in New England.

 

Hee Sox Choi

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We signed the WRONG GUY!

The last two years (Wei-Yin Chen's) ERA is lower against AL East teams than David Price, so that tells you how good a pitcher he is,” Scott Boras said.

EV consulting for Boras?
 

Yo La Tengo

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Well, Greinke is getting a lot of deferred money, estimates are that it's more like 6/190.
To follow-up on my Price/Greinke contract comparison, I'm curious if our collective sense of "the market" for starting pitching has shifted at all over the last few days... I think that Shelby Miller deal is terrifying while the Iwakuma contract seems pretty reasonable (although my memory is that he was only interested in playing for a team on the west coast).
 

tims4wins

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Jerry Green, what you've just written is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent article were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on the internet is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
 

snowmanny

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He doesn't even explain what's "fishy." The only complaint I follow is that Detroit was still in the Wild Card race (along with the entire league) when they traded Price.
 

tims4wins

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He doesn't even explain what's "fishy." The only complaint I follow is that Detroit was still in the Wild Card race (along with the entire league) when they traded Price.
Exactly. If DD knew his job was in jeopardy wouldn't that have made him more likely to KEEP Price and take a shot at a playoff run rather than trading off key pieces for assets? His trades left the Tigers in a better position than if he had held on to everyone. Really strange.

And saying that he couldn't sign him to a long term deal in Detroit then it was weird he was able to in Boston is somewhat akin to the argument that the Sox don't have a plan because they didn't sign Lester and then signed Price. It's not apples to apples. In the Lester vs. Price thing, it was a new GM for the Sox. In Price signing in Boston vs. Detroit, it was budget, other guys on the payroll, roster construction, different owners, etc. etc.

Just a really lousy article. There may be something "fishy" but he doesn't get even close to explaining why that is.
 

DJnVa

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That article deserves to be wrapped around some fish, but beyond that...wha?
 

TheoShmeo

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The ONLY thing that he wrote that registered at all with me is the 14 day lag between DD getting fired from Detroit and hired by the Sox. When Dombrowski left Detroit, I had a feeling he would end up in Boston, and when it happened, I had a feeling it was pre-wired in some way. His connection to Henry, LL departing and Ben looking like a candidate to depart all added up to him coming to Boston.

But that's just my own musings and nothing anyone could or should write an article about without a lot more than those loose dot connections.

The rest of that article? Mind numbing.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Evidently what he's trying to say is that Dombrowski hatched a sinister plot sometime early last season to get fired from his job while first jettisoning his star pitcher so as to ensure that said pitcher would be available as a draft-pick-free FA, available for nabbing on behalf of whatever organization he wound up with. Sure, that seems plausible to me, how about you?

But it's the line about "every tweet designed to boost the image of David Price" that was the clincher for me. What a bitter old fool.
 

IpswichSox

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That guy is the Michigan version of CHB, but even worse. There was absolutely no there there. He's obviously old and stupid. I blame an editor for not stopping this before Green embarrassed himself.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I seem to recall there being rumors that Dombrowski was headed to Toronto pretty much from the moment he left the Tigers. And I also seem to recall those rumors were accompanied by Detroit folks screaming that "the fix was in" since that's where Dombrowski traded Price at the deadline. Then those died down instantly when Dombrowski signed on in Boston. Quelle surprise that the "fix" is now in for Boston according to at least one Detroit scribe.
 

Rovin Romine

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Don't underestimate DD's evil genius. He got the Cardinals to make a huge offer for Price, just so he could apparently trump it with the richest contract offered to a pitcher. All just to provide a smokescreen for his deeply laid plans, which was apparently offering the richest contract ever to a SP. Brilliant!

He must have something on Henry too - to force him to hire DD despite DD's clearly bat-shit insane plan of trading pending free agents away from Detroit. Clearly, DD went rogue and made those trades behind the back of, and without the approval of, the Tiger's ownership. So there's no other possible explanation as to how such a loose cannon found employment with the Sox. I mean unless DDs been Henry's sleeper agent from the very beginning - going back to their FL days.

It explains how we got Porcello (such a steal!) from the Tigers.