Too soon. But I've always hated him, and he's done nothing to change that since he's put on our uniform.
We didn't? I distinctly remember Lackey winning post season games in 2013.Why, we didn't with Panda or Crawford or Hanley. Or Lackey.
Panda is not halfway through his contract, and I think the jury is already out on him. I do agree 6 starts is way too early to judge Prices contract, but you have to be worried, even if just a little bit.Price. JFK fellas. I posted about him possibly being in this thread some day in a game thread. A game thread.
Sure were frustrated with the latest high priced guy, but wait until half way through the contract.
Saying the guy sucks, or is playing poorly is different than saying he is one of the worst of all time. How about a full season?Why, we didn't with Panda or Crawford or Hanley. Or Lackey.
Remember when he signed and some of us were ranting about accepting seven years of downside while only getting three years of upside? This is what seven years of downside looks like after six starts.Price has not merely been a good pitcher during his career. He's been an elite pitcher. Whether we liked him or not (see: his comments about Papi), we pretty much all (the vast majority anyway) felt like he was the guy to get. DD got him. It would be miraculous (in a bad kind of way) for him to suddenly be awful.
He may not be in the CYA running this year but he should end up just fine. Granted, he's being paid to be a CYA contender, but still. I think it's still crazy to think he won't end up with pretty good numbers by season's end.
Fwiw, a caller into Felger/Mazz last week cited Price's career ERA in certain temperature ranges. It was something like 4.90 when 59 degrees and below, 2.95 between 60 and 85 degrees, and 6.00 when over 85 degrees.Price's stuff is just not very good. Read he's gotten two swings and misses on non-change ups in his last 101 pitches. He's unlucky based on bapip but it's not like his line drive rate is low. Basically, he is a 4-5 starter right now even with "average luck"
Now, one thing to note is that he has pitched in cold, rainy games almost every time out. I'm too lazy to do this but I'm guessing there could be some correlation to his performance and the cold this year and historically. Might also explain his crap postseason record?
But, there is little in what we see from Price so far that would suggest this might be amongst the worst contracts the Red Sox have signed
Jason Bay signed a four year $66M contract with the Mets starting in 2010, had a sort of decent year but then fell off the table.In Ben Affleck's bank robbery movie of 2010, the Town, there's the line to the effect that 'No one's robbed the Sox like that since Jack Clark."
On a more positive note we could look at free agents signed away from the Sox who bombed, although it's probably a shorter list. Jacoby Ellsbury looks like he will belong on it when his career is over. Nick Esasky had a really good year in his single Red Sox season of 1989 with 30 homers and 108 RBI's, and was signed away by Atlanta for three years and $5,600,000. He came down with vertigo, played nine games in April, 1990 and his career was over.