Red Sox sign David Price
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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I find myself hoping that he smacks forty homers next year and decides to go one more season after that. His retirement is going to hurt.
The whole David price thing still seems weird to me. Never in my life thought he would pitch for the Sox. When he shut the door on our '08 season I assumed he would torture us for his career.
I thought I would bump this since the "worst free agent" thread has turned into a Price discussion that may fit better here.
His BABIP was .362 before today, and appears to have gone up. That's the highest BABIP of any AL pitcher who's thrown 30+ innings. What's going on?
The Red Sox offense has given Price the lead 11 times in 7 starts. He has blown 6 of those leads.
Opening Day in Cleveland, he was given a 2-0 lead, then let Cleveland tie it up. We took the lead again and he cruised from there. No big deal, we win.
Against Baltimore, he was given a 3-0 lead in the first inning. By the third inning, we were losing 5-3. Terrible job by him to blow a big early lead.
Against Tampa, he gave up a run in the first, but then we scored 5 runs in the bottom of the inning for a 5-1 lead. By the fourth inning, Price had coughed up 7 more runs and we were down 8-5. Another awful performance, turning what should have been an easy win into a big deficit.
Last weekend against NY, we scored in the first inning to take the lead. Price gave up 3 runs in the third to put us behind 3-1. In the bottom of the inning, the Sox scored 3 of their own to put us back in front. Price coughs up 3 more in the 5th to put us behind again. The offense then comes back to bail him out again. He was awful and deserved to lose but the offense managed to win the game despite him.
Today, we got a run in the 2nd to give another early him a lead. Price gave up the tying run in the 3rd, then gave up 3 more in the 5th to put us down 4-1. Basically turned a modest early lead into a deep hole we couldn't dig out of.
He has pitched terribly by the numbers, but his suck has actually been even worse than the bad numbers. Whatever your definition of an ace starter, he has basically been the opposite of that.
Opening Day in Cleveland, he was given a 2-0 lead, then let Cleveland tie it up. We took the lead again and he cruised from there. No big deal, we win.
Against Baltimore, he was given a 3-0 lead in the first inning. By the third inning, we were losing 5-3. Terrible job by him to blow a big early lead.
Against Tampa, he gave up a run in the first, but then we scored 5 runs in the bottom of the inning for a 5-1 lead. By the fourth inning, Price had coughed up 7 more runs and we were down 8-5. Another awful performance, turning what should have been an easy win into a big deficit.
Last weekend against NY, we scored in the first inning to take the lead. Price gave up 3 runs in the third to put us behind 3-1. In the bottom of the inning, the Sox scored 3 of their own to put us back in front. Price coughs up 3 more in the 5th to put us behind again. The offense then comes back to bail him out again. He was awful and deserved to lose but the offense managed to win the game despite him.
Today, we got a run in the 2nd to give another early him a lead. Price gave up the tying run in the 3rd, then gave up 3 more in the 5th to put us down 4-1. Basically turned a modest early lead into a deep hole we couldn't dig out of.
He has pitched terribly by the numbers, but his suck has actually been even worse than the bad numbers. Whatever your definition of an ace starter, he has basically been the opposite of that.
loss of velocity is never a good sign. this might not end well, but at least he is not fat like the other poor contract we have
He's also given up an ungodly 29.5% LD rate (3rd worst in MLB) and 41.8% Hard rate (worst in MLB). So I don't think we can write off the .362 as seeing-eye singles. I think our best source of comfort is the reflection that it's still early, and he has tended to start slow in the past (though not this slow).
..great points about surrendering leads; and today the bats (cold day 2 now) couldnt bail him out. I've been really waiting for Price to put up a few games in a row of 7 innings 1 run type stuff.....Doesn't feel like he (yet) has it in him....the velocity dip was noted too in CBS piece by Cummings as happened last year too as trough for the year, hoping the same now.. what's wrong? weather? Carl Crawford syndrome? dumb-luck?
The guy picked up on waivers who was signed to a relatively reasonable one year deal? Depends on your definition, I suppose.
So what's the over-under on when the Shaughnessy column comes out and talks about how Astro came to Boston and brought his dog with him?
And incidentally cementing (like concrete shoes at the bottom of the Charles River) Lucchino's, if in fact Lucky was the one who drove him away from Boston.
Or it's just he built the exact teams to win three times (essentially) and no GM is infallible, and the plan can only work for so long. Impossible to say he could have done it again in Boston.
This is asinine. Lucchino's legacy in Boston is cemented and it's excellent.
Or anywhere. He hasn't "done it" in Chicago yet, if by "doing it" you mean winning a championship and not just building an impressively stacked team.
Yes, but that's not incompatible with JWH being displeased with how the Lester negotiations were handled and booting LL down to Providence. If Price doesn't get back on the beam, LL might get booted out of New England.
Fair enough. I mean just building a team up to put them in a position to win. There's nothing the GM can do other than find the pieces.
I was thinking more about Theo Epstein's quote that Tony Clark killed us at the plate when he was wearing a Red Sox uniform and very nearly killed us at the plate in a NYY uniform in the last AB of Game 6.
That AB took years off my life. I was beyond convinced Tony F-ing Clark was going to hit the walkoff HR to end the comeback bid.
@MikeSilvermanBB
David Price, w an assist from Pedroia, has detected a flaw, related to his front leg, in his delivery. "I'm going to be all right."
@DanShaughnessy
"It explains a lot,'' Price said. "It's all with my hands . . . My hands and right knee are supposed to be connected by a string.''
@DanShaughnessy
"For me, it's an easy fix,'' said Price, who is scheduled to pitch Thursday at Fenway vs. 'Stros.
My question: why is Pedroia finding (other than the fact he is awesome) this and not a coach/org person?
David Price, w an assist from Pedroia, has detected a flaw, related to his front leg, in his delivery. "I'm going to be all right."
@DanShaughnessy
"It explains a lot,'' Price said. "It's all with my hands . . . My hands and right knee are supposed to be connected by a string.''
@DanShaughnessy
"For me, it's an easy fix,'' said Price, who is scheduled to pitch Thursday at Fenway vs. 'Stros.
My question: why is Pedroia finding (other than the fact he is awesome) this and not a coach/org person?
This isn't entirely true in todays game when the GM's typically are meeting with the manager on a game-to-game basis to discuss lineups and strategy. IIRC this is something Theo and Tito did regularly.
I assume because he gets to watch every pitch from an infield perspective? Don't know.
I always took it for granted that a struggling (or any, for that matter) pitcher practices throwing real pitches to some of the better RH/LH hitters on his team to get feedback. No one can know more about what's going on with the pitch than a batter facing him (picking up the location, speed, spin and lack of deception or the presence of "tells"). Maybe Pedroia stepped into the box for a sampling of Price's pitches and saw something going on. I'm just glad he's on the Red Sox. He wants to Make Pitching Great Again.
Pretty much exactly a year ago, Clay Buchholz had an ERA about 3 runs higher than his xFIP or FIP. czar told everybody to relax. Price's ERA is almost 4 runs higher than his xFIP or FIP. czar, please tell us to relax about David Price.
I don't feel this is different than in other sports when smart/savvy players are more in tune then the coaches as that top tier of IQ in their respective sports aren't shared by their coaches.
Think about it in terms of other sports players vs coaches and who you feel understands the game more......Tom Brady or Josh McDaniels? LeBron James or Tyronn Lue? Larry Bird or KC Jones? I can envision Pedrioa and Carl Willis in a similar fashion.
Now when Buchholz begins finding mechanical flaws that the coaches can't then that would raise a red flag. Guys like Pedroia seem to be the elite of the elite in knowledge of the game.
Our manager used to be a pitching coach. So Pedroia must be wrong. (But I hope he's not.)
I hope everybody sees what you did here to bolster an argument that doesn't make a lot of sense.
Not two weeks ago, Chris Young could tell from the outfield that Henry Owens was tipping his pitches, not to the batter, but to baserunners. Sometimes the position players are the ones who spot something first.
What doesn't make a lot of sense.....that elite players aren't more knowledgeable about the game then many of their coaches? Many of these coaches just finished up their playing careers and are on the same level (or below) as the players they now coach. It's common in all sports.
I recall something last year when Ortiz picked up on something in JBJ's(?) swing.....or maybe that was also Pedroia I don't recall specifically.
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Pedroia has studied Price on video for years and has faced him a ton. He saw something and pointed it out. Doesn't mean it will work but batters can pick things out easily in a pitcher's delivery they've faced for years.
“@The_Mudville_9: @EvanDrellich I’ve heard more than one comment from road announcers on XM radio, Price was pitching with a slide step instead of windup.”
“@EvanDrellich: Interesting. Basically Price’s own words. http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/clubhouse_insider/2016/05/david_price_thinks_he_has_a_fix_with_dustin_pedroias_advice
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Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought it was something with Napoli and Pedroia.
Price has tipped his pitches in the past as well. Against the Royals in last year's playoffs, he'd let out a heavy sigh before his changeup. Royals picked up on it. Hopefully all angles are being reviewed by the coaching staff.
You are not mistaken. Pedey is going to be a baseball lifer.
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/44005/mike-napoli-gets-valuable-hitting-advice-from-dustin-pedroia
I read that Pedroia has faced Price the third most that any batter has faced Price in his career. Said he was studying video of all left handers he has faced., and when Prices popped up on the video, he said something stuck out to him....et voila.
14/38(.368) in the 12 games following that flight.
.162 before the flight.
So it worked out well. Excellent post.
So after reading this I'm wondering what the Hell Pedroia is seeing in Price's delivery while playing behind him that Farrell and Willis aren't seeing in warm ups, bullpen sessions or from watching him pitch from dugouts on either side of the field.
Then I read this and understand how much sense it makes. So much more to this game than any of us realize.
Thanks all, I can see an advantage a player like Pedey can have. Good stuff.
Now let's pray it works.
Now let's pray it works.