“It’s not you, it’s me”. It’s a different world here, David, just ask former teammate Carl Crawford. They got Kimbrel and Price, I guess they got exhausted of watching other teams win.
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By going all-in on Price, they signal they are going all-out not just to improve, but to contend. The Hot Stove League is underway with no shortage of story lines and debate topics for fans who care about their team, 12 months a year.
Now the question facing the Yankees is this: Does Hal Steinbrenner think differently about not spending money in a year when the club doesn’t have significant money coming off the payroll? Finishing 110-63 in regular season and 6-4 in postseason with the Red Sox, Lester proved to be reliable.
Price will earn $31 million per year courtesy of a seven-year, $217 million deal with the Boston Red Sox. Additionally, they put teams in a situation in which they need to fork over even more guaranteed money than already promised.
Cardinals officials do not comment on individual free agents. The overall number is intimidating, but when everything is said and done, this deal might only amount to a three-year, 93 million contract.
Samardzija and Chen aren’t going to be near the top of that market, but they likely are in the $70 million-to-$90 million range, and that might be too rich for the Yankees.
Due to injuries and not quite living up to admittedly lofty expectations, Tanaka would likely need to post two seasons better than his first two seasons with the Yankees in order to feel comfortable walking away from his current contract. Filled with young, talented positional players at the major and minor-league levels, the Red Sox lacked the impact talent on the mound.
And with Mark Teixeira’s $22.5 million and Carlos Beltran’s $15 million disappearing following the 2016 season, would the Yankees get proactive and go after free-agent lefty slugger Chris Davis this offseason and replace Teixeira with him at first in 2017? They have finished last for the last two consecutive seasons.
Of course, signing Price doesn’t guarantee anything, especially with Clay Buchholz, Eduardo Rodriguez, Rick Porcello and Wade Miley behind him.
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The-30-year-old Price led the American League with a 2.45 ERA in 2015 while he was still with the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays. He has never won a game as a starter when it counts, sporting an ugly 0-7 record and an even uglier 5.27 ERA in October. The one time that he went was in 2008 as a rookie, working effectively out of the bullpen, in a series loss to the Phillies. The left-hander was traded from Detroit to Toronto last season as the Blue Jays made a playoff push in the AL East. One year earlier, he was traded to Detroit from Tampa Bay, where he spent the early part of his career.
