It was Price, whose seven-year, $217 million deal was officially announced by the team.
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Since then, Price has evolved into a legitimate No. 1 starter, with the 2012 Cy Young Award to prove it. As much as anyone, Martinez understands the value of a 200-inning leader of a rotation who can handle the scrutiny that comes with being an ace. The deal is the largest in major-league history for a pitcher. As great as Price is now, that might not be such a bad thing, given the history of those contracts. Red Sox spokesman Kevin Gregg said at the beginning of the conference call that the team would not be discussing Price.
The contract has an opt-out clause after the 2018 season.
Meantime, despite winning it all in 2013 – their third World Series championship in 10 years – the Red Sox have finished last in the AL East in three of the past four seasons.
“I got to see him the (second) day he threw a ball in professional baseball, and now, I’m going to get a pretty good, close look at him in a personal way”, Martinez said from David Ortiz” eighth annual charity golf event. It’s on. Next time he hits me he better bring the gloves. “He’s putting up historical numbers, or at least bordering on that, at this stage of his career”. He went 18-5 with a 2.45 ERA with Detroit and Toronto in 2015, striking out 225. “It was just a matter of him getting his body built up to becoming who David Price is”. They may let someone else assume the risk on an aging pitcher and be content with having already paid him for three years where Price was still in his prime.
When he was with Tampa Bay, Price complained about the way the Red Sox designated hitter admired a postseason home run before slowly trotting around the bases. He will wear the number 24 next season, number worn by other Sox legends such as Dwight Evans and Manny Ramirez.
“I had more than one person tell me, from a player perspective and from a staff perspective, that he was the best teammate they ever had”, Dombrowski said.
Acquiring a core young pitcher without sacrificing a core young prospect won’t be easy, and presumably takes the Red Sox out of the market for a big name like Oakland’s Sonny Gray, Chicago’s Chris Sale, or Miami’s Jose Fernandez.
The sides agreed to the terms of the deal on Tuesday, but had to wait for Price to pass his physical. We’re not going to trade away our core young players, but we might be able to get a core young pitcher. Henry said that the Red Sox engaged teams on trade talks early in the offseason and found the costs prohibitive.
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“And really, if you’re going to go out and sign a legitimate No. 1 starter, you’re going to have to be in a position to give the length of contract that we did”.
