Price finished second in the American League Cy Young Award voting this past season, posting a 2.45 ERA in a season he split between the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays.
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The Red Sox taking care of business by signing a legitimate ace that boosts a starting staff that placed 26th in runs allowed last season. Instead, the crew will work an afternoon game between the Eagles and Patriots. There are still moves left to be made to help push the Boston Red Sox over the top, but every fan will join Price in sleeping easy tonight with a big smile on their face. This is the largest amount to be offered and given to a free agent pitcher in history. They know full well – believe me, they know better than you or I – that there’s a good chance they’ll see this deal as a burden rather than a blessing within four or five years. They had Jon Lester but he was traded Oakland Athletics previous year to land in outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.
The opt-out is Price’s, not the club’s, so it’s not as if the Sox can walk away from the deal if Price doesn’t pitch to expectations in his first three years with the Red Sox.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ moves so far this offseason, signing free agent pitcher J.A. Happ and re-signing pitcher Marco Estrada, do not seem to have resonated with oddsmakers. But he is 2-7 with a 5.12 ERA in 14 postseason games. That is why Price received the seven-year, $217 million deal from the Boston Red Sox.
Dave Dombrowski was brought to Boston by John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon to become the lone voice of the baseball side of the Red Sox.
The 29-year-old Clevenger hit.
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Former middleweight boxing champion Jermain Taylor struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty in Little Rock, Arkansas, to charges stemming from three incidents over the past year, including shooting and wounding his cousin and firing a gun at a parade. Maybe the deal will look like an albatross in the later stages, but the Red Sox are just anxious about the next few seasons in front of them. The Diamondbacks, also in the market for a starter after free agent Johnny Cueto rejected their six-year, $120 million offer, were expected to talk with Samardzija as well. The money was due only if Park signed with the Twins. Barring serious injury or underperformance, Price nearly certainly will opt out, just like Alex Rodriguez in 2007, CC Sabathia in 2011 and Zack Greinke last month, especially since he might have preferred to stay closer to his Nashville home and sign with the St. Louis Cardinals, according to a USA Today report.
