The 30-year-old was considered to be one of the two best starting pitchers available on the free-agent market.
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As highlighted in an earlier MassLive.com column, the signing also gives the Sox some flexibility and options.
After spending his entire career in Tampa Bay, Price was acquired by Detroit at the 2014 trade deadline.
His contract by far is the seventh-highest in baseball history, and highest at that for a pitcher, overtaking Clayton Kershaw’s $215 million deal with the Dodgers.
I applaud Dave Dombrowski for delivering on what he promised. The team is still in search for a pitching.
The culprit, in this instance, is not Dombrowski himself but what spurred his hiring: losing. In truth, this idea is ridiculous, particularly for someone like Henry who built his fortune refusing to allow emotions to dictate positions in commodities. You had better hope the first three years pay off, because the last four could be tough to endure. This is not a bad lot in life. Use the money. Use the farm system.
Whatever. This has been a complete ideological shift after three last-place finishes wrapped around that 2013 World Series title at Fenway Park.
For what it’s worth, new Red Sox senior vice president of baseball operations Frank Wren denied the back-and-forth reports on air with WEEI.
That led to Lester getting traded to the Oakland A’s at the July 31 deadline, and an offer to return capped at roughly $135 million last December, the Red Sox clinging to philosophical ideas and warning against the history of 30-something pitchers. David Price is a great player, but the price isn’t right for this Boston Red Sox team. That would be ludicrous, meaning the Red Sox will be stuck paying Price through age 38, which might turn into a eerily similar situation to the Yankees and CC Sabathia.
This is what you need to know about the Price signing: the Red Sox are paying Price his market rate while betting an enormous sum of money that he is an extreme outlier, an ace who ages well into his 30s. So while it’s a insane big amount of money, he will still only be 37 when the contract is over. The genius of Dombrowski isn’t any particular facet as much as the gravitas that allows him to operate in the fashion he desires.
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Although it is not always the most competitive division, it tends to be one that is hard for pitchers because of the quality of lineups they face. The Chicago Cubs reportedly had interest in Price before he made his final decision, as the Cubs are expected to spend big in free agency this winter. The designated hitter belted two home runs off Price in a 2014 game.
