Your 2015 Free Agency Primer: David Price
Petco Park is a temporary golf course. They're playing football at Fenway. Yes, baseball truly has gone into hibernation. But fear not -- we've got the blockbuster deals and rampant John Axford Twitter spectulation of the Hot Stove to keep us warm through the long, bat flip-less winter. There are plenty of big names hitting the free agent market, so to help get you caught up we'll be breaking them down in entirely too much detail with our Cut4 Free Agent Primer. We've already tackled Jason Heyward ; next up ...
David Price. The Cy Young Award winner, not the emoji:
It seems like just yesterday he was a flamethrowing rookie pitching the Rays to the World Series, but now Price is a 30-year-old ace, ready to finally test the waters of free agency after leading Toronto to the ALCS.
I've been living under a rock for a couple of years. Tell me about this "David Price" fellow.
There are but a few certainties in this life: Death, taxes, #WeirdBaseball and David Price. Not including his rookie season, the lefty has thrown at least 186 innings every year, and he's never posted an ERA above 3.49 -- while spending most of that time in the offensive minefield known as the AL East. The only starters worth more WAR in that time, according to Fangraphs? Clayton Kershaw and Felix Hernandez.
Price is everyone's definition of a No. 1 starter: He's great, he's humble, and he's ready to anchor a team's rotation. Oh, and he's struck out 496 batters over the last two years, if that's more your speed:
OK, so he's pretty good at this "pitching" thing. But what else does he bring to the table?
May I interest you in the greatest baseball dog in the history of Instagram?
I mean, I was hoping we could stick to baseball.
PRESENTING THE GREATEST BASEBALL DOG IN THE HISTORY OF INSTAGRAM:
Plus, he's started to diversify his game recently -- he can now be used as a reliever or even in the outfield.
Is that out of your system now?
Eh ehm. Yes, sorry.
Great. So, this guy definitely won't be cheap, will he?
Oh, I'm sorry, you were serious.
......
No, no he won't be. Because he was traded from the Tigers to the Blue Jays before the non-waiver Deadline, Price won't cost a team a Draft pick. He's only had one DL stint in his entire career, back in 2013, and he's arguably the most bankable commodity in the game. All the major players have been linked to him, from the Giants to the Yankees to the Cubs, and Price could easily command more than $200 million.
Our money is on Chicago, though, because Joe Maddon knows how to speak to the modern-day ballplayer.
