Tag: David Price

Sox Land $30M Mop-Up Man For Stretch Run

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CBS Boston – David Price is off of the disabled list and heading to the Boston bullpen.

The Red Sox activated the 32-year-old lefty on Thursday after a seven-week stay on the disabled list with left elbow inflammation. He threw a three-inning simulated game at Fenway Park on Wednesday, and Boston manager John Farrell hopes to have Price available out of the bullpen on Sunday or Monday.

David Price hasn’t made an appearance out of the bullpen in a regular season game since 2010, but the bullpen is actually where he’s found most of his success in the postseason. Price’s postseason woes are well known, but he’s actually been pretty good out of the bullpen in October. Both of his playoff wins were out of the bullpen.

Price pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in 2008 and was 1-0 with a save in five appearances. He posted a 1.59 ERA over 5.2 innings, struck out 8 of the 24 batters he faced, and allowed just two hits. His sole relief appearance as a Blue Jay in 2015 against the Rangers wasn’t as impressive, but he did manage to get a win out of it.

It’ll be interesting to see how John Farrell chooses to use Price going forward. Will he be used a lefty specialist, as an eighth-inning guy, or a as a general fireman? Also interesting  to see will be Price’s reaction to being placed in the bullpen. I know he’s coming back from an injury and has to work his arm strength back up, which is difficult to do this late in the season, but it still feels like a demotion. Even after his rough outing last night, I’d still rather give the ball to Doug Fister in game three or four of the playoffs than David Price.

Regardless of what happens down the stretch, it’s hard not view year two of David Price in Boston as a disappointment. A strong late-season run would help make this deal look less like the Pablo Sandoval disaster, but this is not the guy the Red Sox thought they were getting. The Red Sox thought they were getting a guy who could drive the bus, not a guy who would yell at the team broadcaster on the bus.

Dice-K 2.0 Watch is ON as the Red Sox are in on Japanese Phenom Prospect Shohei Otani

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NESN – It appears the Boston Red Sox want a seat at the table of the Shohei Otani sweepstakes. The Red Sox are one of many MLB teams to express interest in the highly-touted Japanese pitcher/outfielder, according to multiple reports. The Sox and New York Yankees have the most international allotment money in the majors — $8 million apiece — and thus are in the best position to pursue a player like Otani, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. And according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and The Athletic, Boston and New York are among 13 teams who have requested to scout Otani in person.

Tomato/to-mah-toh. While some may see Dice-K 2.0 others may see a pitcher/outfielder who excels at both and think of the immortal Casey Kelley! Another can’t miss prospect who was so good at pitching and playing the field that he ended up being good at neither as a pro.

The Sox have been gearing up for a move like this though as they are tied for the most international allotment money in the majors at $8M. Tied with the goddamn Yankees to boot.

So you know the Red Sox are just itching to throw some money at a sexy foreign prospect because they have such a great track record with expensive international players like Dice-K and colossal bust Rusney Castillo. Boston tends to fare better with smaller deals when dipping its toe into the international pool with guys like Junichi Tazawa and Hideki Okajima. We did also get guys like Xander Bogaerts and Yoan Moncada (top prospect in MLB despite his early career struggles).

Obviously the Sox aren’t going to shun the international market, nor should they, because of a few (HUGE) swings and misses, but I am a little reluctant to give another gigantic payday to an unknown player because he’s mowing down 140 pound Japanese guys halfway across the world.

Either way Shohei Otani played in the WBC for Japan and currently plays in the Nippon Pro Baseball League (just like ya boy Dice-K) and is straight up DOMINATING.

“He started 20 games on the mound for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2016, tallying a 10-4 record and a 1.86 ERA. He also has thrown the fastest recorded pitch in NPB history, at 102 mph. Otani excelled as a hitter last season, as well, posting a .322 batting average with 22 home runs and 67 RBIs in 2014 games played.”

So definitely someone to keep an eye on, especially if David Price continues to circle the drain amidst his $217 DL stint. Shohei Otani watch is ON!

PS – Fun fact. A few years ago I made the pilgrimage to Queens to check out Citi Field as the Mets were playing the Red Sox. And who was on the mound? Yup, Dice-K. Didn’t even realize he was still in the league. How’d he do you ask? Left the game due to injury of course. What a career.

Barry Zito Surprises No One by Saying He Loves Music More Than He Ever Loved Baseball

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Yahoo – The former pitcher for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants has fully transitioned from a life in baseball to a life making music (he released his first EP of six songs back in January, and it reached No. 39 on the Billboard country chart),..Oh, and he laid down this blazing hot personal take on his post-baseball life. “I think I’m just genuinely more in love with what I do now than I probably ever have been.” That’s a bold statement for a guy who won a Cy Young award, went to three All-Star Games, and won some very important postseason contests — including a World Series game that led to a ring. But Zito’s career had a lot of ups and downs. He was left off the 2010 postseason roster, and that Giants team went on to win the World Series. He had some bad years, and didn’t pitch at all in 2014. Then he spent most of 2015 pitching for the A’s Triple-A team in Nashville.

Barry Zito is without a doubt in the Hall of Fame for mailing it in. This is a guy who had a couple of DOMINANT seasons for the Oakland Athletics, won a Cy Young in 2002 with that absolutely filthy curveball.

Then he cashed IN with a $126 million contract from the San Francisco Giants. In 2006 Zito’s deal was the largest contract for a pitcher ever (LOL David Price got $217 million 10 years later). Zito then almost immediately turned into a colossal bust, never lived up to the hype and ultimately became a bullpen guy for the Giants.

Which is gross to type because the Red Sox were apparently the runner ups for Zito and are now basically living out the same exact situation a decade later. Highest paid pitcher ever, underwhelming performance etc.

But anyways, with Zito he always seemed like a total surfer dude who just happened to be really good at baseball. Like if Johnny Utah hadn’t blown out his knee and went on to NFL stardom.

So towards the end of his career Zito was always seen playing the guitar all while shitting the bed as he backed his way into the last few years of his historic contract. In 7 seasons with the Giants he never ONCE had an ERA under 4 and had an ERA over 5 three times. Yuck, indeed.

Well good for that dude for doing what he loves and chasing the dream, not the money. Ya know, after already banking $100+ million dollars. Guy Moneyballed his way to the top. Respect.

Introducing the MLB Players Weekend Hats AKA Straight Acid Trip Apparel

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To go along with Players Weekend and the nicknames jerseys, MLB is also rolling out some new wacky hats to match. This is some straight up acid trip apparel that I am unfamiliar with. Are the managers going to be required to wear Kramer’s technicolor dreamcoat?

But seriously, these are some wacky color combos. I’m 100% a jaded man and see this is a blatant marketing cash grab, disguised as a fun, quirky gimmick to show how fun baseball is. Now unsurprisingly you’ve got your usual suspects of teams that did the bare minimum like the Yankees, the Giants, and the Angels.

The Giants and the Angels basically just rolled out their normal hats. Good job, good effort guys.

Then you’ve got teams who said, “Acid? Why not make it 2 tabs, lets fucking go!”

Now theres actually a few pretty sharp hats in here too that take advantage of the wild color schemes and use it to create something fun and eye catching:

This is a choice hat by the Rockies going with their secondary logo, that is a great goddamn hat.

Doesn’t matter if you’re the worst team in baseball if you look slick in a new cap and the Liberty Bell logo here does that as both bold yet minimalist.

Really solid hat here for Minnesota, combining the state outline with the Twin Cities logo.

Unfortunately the Red Sox were not one of those teams, which hurts to say coming from a HUGE hat guy like myself. The Sox Players Weekend hat is a decidedly mediocre “meh.”

The other contenders for “hats I would potentially buy.”

You can never go wrong with a sexy throwback A’s hat. Pair this with a bushy mustache and a YUCK t-shirt to go full Dennis Eckersley and David Price legitimately may fight you on Yawkey Way.

Pirates usually have some pretty solid caps as I am the proud owner of the throwback striped pillbox hat.

This is a solid effort from the Pirates for Players Weekend, probably could’ve used a black brim though to even things out a bit.

Despite the fact I just deducted points from Pittsburgh for going too yellow, the Rays embrace it with the still ridiculous sunburst logo to make an exceptionally loud hat.

Now THAT is how you break down the apparel of professional sports teams. Your move, Uni Watch.

 

 

Red Sox Ownership Blocked Dombrowski from Trading More Top Prospects. Good.

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WEEI – After a number of deals involving top-level prospects thinned the Red Sox farm system, ownership ordered president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski not to deal any top-end talent at the July 31 trade deadline, according to a report. Per Sean McAdam of Boston Sports Journal (subscription required), ownership made it clear to Dombrowski at the deadline that he was not to touch the top of the farm system. He instead dealt middle-tier prospects to acquire infielder Eduardo Nunez and reliever Addison Reed.

I know, I know, the Red Sox brought Dave Dombrowski in to build the team his way. And his way just happens to be to trade every prospect under the fucking sun to win now. Except theres GOT to be a point where you sit back and think hey maybe lets pump the breaks so we have SOME young guys in the pipeline. I am far from a bleeding heart prospect hoarder. I’ve seen too many “untouchable” prospects turn into absolute scrubs like Henry Owens (Baseball America No. 44 prospect in 2015). And for every Anthony Rizzo (Red Sox No. 8 prospect before getting dealt) you regret trading away there are 10 Casey Kellys (as high as Baseball America No. 24 prospect in 2009).

Something we talked about on our all Red Sox podcast this week (SUBSCRIBE!) was how Big Z and I disagreed on what to do with prospects. He says ship em all out because you’re going to miss with prospects more than you hit. I disagree. Not because I think they’re all going to be studs. I’m more concerned with the PERCEPTION of value they bring, which is why I always hated the Pomeranz trade. Admittedly he’s been pitching really well of late and Anderson Espinoza just blew his arm out and will have to get Tommy John. BUT, at the time Espinoza was your top pitching prospect and one of the most highly regarded prospects in all of baseball. Dombrowski traded him for a reliever turned starter who ultimately ended up being a middle innings mop up guy for the Red Sox down the stretch.

Sure he’s pitched well as of late, but you can’t point to the Espinoza injury and say Dombrowski won the trade. Thats using the benefit of hindsight. My point is the PERCEPTION of Espinoza’s value was much higher and the Sox should have gotten a lot more for him or held onto him. Not because I think he’s going to be the next Pedro, but because the consensus around the league was he would be a stud, which means you gotta get more.

Not to mention, take a look at Dombrowski’s last place of employment; the Detroit Tigers. Dombrowski had them humming along pretty good for a couple of years but he GUTTED the farm system and now they are in the middle of a brutal rebuild. I would hate to see the Sox in a similar position in 3-4 years. You can always add expensive free agents, but you need to supplement that with young, cheap prospects or you’ll quickly turn into the pre-Baby Bomber Yankees with Teixeira, CC Sabathia, A-Rod and others collecting paychecks on their way out the door towards retirement.

All of this is a long winded way of saying I’m glad someone put the stop sign up on Dombrowski IF it was over concerns of dealing more top prospects. If it was about concerns of going over the luxury tax then I retract this whole blog post because you’re the fucking Red Sox, you can afford it. But since he took over as President of baseball operations Dombrowski has stripped the farm system. In the two years since taking over he has traded 16+ prospects. You can read Alex Speier’s breakdown of them all, but here are the highlights below.

  • Manuel Margot (Part of the Craig Kimbrel trade: the No. 14 prospect in MLB at the start of 2016 and last week’s NL Player of the Week)
  • Yoan Moncada (Part of the Chris Sale trade: Sale has been a stud so no regrets about this, but Moncada was the No. 2 prospect in MLB this season behind only…Andrew Benintendi)
  • Michael Kopech (Sale trade: 100 mph heater with a 3.25 ERA and 134 K’s in 105 innings in Triple-A this year)
  • Travis Shaw (Tyler Thornburg trade: not technically a prospect, but Thornburg has yet to pitch for the Sox and Shaw is batting a cool .291 with 24 HR and 74 RBI for the Brewers)

I’m just not sold on Dombrowski’s player evaluation, which is probably my biggest concern. At least when it comes to the health or mental fortitude of players. Guys he’s traded for that have gotten injured include Thornbug, Carson Smith, Drew Pomeranz and not to mention signing David Price who has battled injuries as well as the local media. Yuck.

At some point you have to hold onto the young guys. The current team is littered with home grown talent (that are cheap too) including Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi. Thats a pretty stocked roster why not trade away some young guys then? Well because when the Red Sox have needed depth due to injuries they’ve basically been up shits creek because of all those prospects dealt. Thats how you get Henry Owens (now in Double-A) and Doug Fister making starts. Thank God for the way Devers has played or the Sox might be in a real bad place down the stretch.

The Red Sox currently have 3 prospects in Baseball America’s 2017 Top 100 – Benintendi (No. 1), Devers (No. 18) and Jason Groome (No. 43) — down from 5 in 2016 when they had Moncada (No. 3), Benintendi (No. 15), Devers (No. 18), Espinoza (No. 19) and Kopech (No. 89). Kopech jumped from 89 to 32, Moncada jumped from 3 to. 2, Benintendi jumped to 15 to 1, Devers stayed at No. 18, Espinzoa actually went down from 19 to 21 (2017 is Groome’s first year in pro ball).

My point is you don’t need to hold onto ALL of the prospects, but you do need to hold onto SOME of them. Your move, Dave.

David Price’s Elbow Conveniently Acting Up as Red Sox Start Homestand

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This will be an interesting story to watch develop throughout the day.

The Red Sox have had lots of bad contracts since John Henry and company bought the team. Carl Crawford and Pablo Sandoval were both huge letdowns in Boston. John Lackey was a vocal malcontent who did nothing to endear himself to fans, but at least he was able to ignore the noise and revive his career in 2013. In doing so, he earned the begrudging respect of fans. But David Price is different.

I don’t see any way this David Price situation can be salvaged. I don’t see any way David Price can man up the way John Lackey did. Price must not own a mirror, because in his world, everyone else is the problem. Mean tweets, mean things Evan Drellich wrote, mean things Dennis Eckersley said, those are the real things holding Price and this team back. Not his astounding lack of focus and effort. Skipping tonight’s start and leaving his team out to dry on 12 hours notice would be just another middle finger David Price could give to this team and its fans.

There have been lots of players who came to Boston and didn’t live up to the hype. But where there was disappointment with the play of Julio Lugo and JD Drew, it feels like fans are actively rooting against David Price at this point. I know I am. I am an unapologetic Red Sox fan, but I do not suffer fools gladly.

This Red Sox team is full of fake tough guys right now, and David Price is Exhibit A. David Price knows how tough this game is. It’s much tougher than him. That’s why he might not pitch with a boo-boo. He wouldn’t want to risk anything more serious.

But I hope David Price does take the ball tonight and gets whacked by the Royals. It’s high time for this guy to take his medicine. Eventually John Lackey dropped the act and got his head on straight. It took him a full season with a 6.41 ERA to figure it out, but he did. We’ll see what it takes to get David Price to that point.

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Its Official, David Price has Poisoned the Well for the Red Sox

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So in whats become one of the most lengthy Red Sox dramas that I can remember in a long time, David Price and the boys are morphing into a group of unlikeable assholes right before our eyes. It started of course with Shaugnessy’s story detailing how Price was berating Hall of Famer and NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley on the team plane in front of everyone, supposedly because of Eck’s “Yuck” comment about a recent E-Rod rehab start. Not because Eck was criticizing Price, not because Price also recently flipped the fuck out on Evan Drellich (also in front of a crowd of reporters), but because he’s a good teammate. If you think thats a pretty convenient excuse for Price to rip into a member of the media merely to defend a teammate, then you’re right – its bullshit.

Price is actually pitching well, but he seems to be falling apart mentally, lashing out at anyone and everyone for various reasons.

While you’re still an asshole for the way you went about it, you can rip into Evan Drellich and no one will care. But when you start talking shit to a national treasure like Eck and do it on the plane surrounded by your teammates like a schoolyard bully? Then thats where the problem starts. If there’s one thing fans in Boston do not like its entitlement. Now obviously thats a sliding scale with all professional athletes because they’re all entitled to some degree, but when the $30M per year pitcher starts grandstanding and bitching about every little slight because he can’t handle his Twitter notifications, then its a BIG problem.

To make matters worse, rather than suspend, fine or ya know TALK to Price about the incident and ask him “uhh you good big guy?” Instead of doing any of those things, the Red Sox ignored the problem and literally changed the plane boarding procedure. Rather than address the issue, lets just bury our heads in the sand and separate the kids like its recess.

Now we hear that other Red Sox players and even Pedroia (Bradfo disagrees) were cheering Price on while he was berating Eck? Like a bunch of assholes. Thats a goddamn shame. Talk about poisoning the fucking well.

If this galvanizes the team and they f-bomb everyone around them all the way to a World Series title then thats one thing. That’ll be their thing. 2013 was Boston Strong, 2004 was the Idiots, 2017 can be the miserable assholes who rail against the world. But if they don’t? If they stumble down the stretch and get bounced in the first round or somehow miss the playoffs? I wouldn’t put it past John Henry to say FUCK THIS and send a drastically different looking team to Fort Myers in 2018.

Now after weeks of this incident lingering, sports radio eviscerating the players, and just general fan backlash, the Red Sox return home from a long west coast road trip and send none other than David Price to the mound Friday night. This guy better take the hill and strike out the side right out of the gate because if he doesn’t he very well may get his balls booed off. There’s a lot of pressure on Price tonight, about as much as there can be for a game in the dead of July, but holy shit, if this guy comes out and takes a beating tonight? Forget it, the Fenway faithful might literally break this guy’s psyche. And I for one am excited as all hell to see this unfold.

Want to vocalize your distaste for all this bullshit going on with the Red Sox? Maybe get in David Price’s brain from the stands to rattle his cage a little bit? Buy a Yuck shirt.

Big Day for Sale, Sox in Seattle

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Chris Sale has been solid for the Red Sox all season. When he takes the mound at Seattle this afternoon to face the Mariners, it might be his biggest start of the season.

The Red Sox are scuffling. The Red Sox have lost four games in a row, which is their longest losing streak of the season, and are just 5-8 since the All-Star break. The Yankees, meanwhile, are 7-5 since the All-Star break. The Yankees have won four of their last five games, and recently took 3 out of 4 in Seattle to win their first series since they swept the Baltimore Orioles June 9-11.

Just a week ago, the Yankees found themselves in third place in the AL East,  4.5 games behind the Red Sox. Today the Yankees start the day in second place, just one game behind the Red Sox. If the Red Sox lose today and the Yankees win, the Yankees will finish the day percentage points ahead of the Red Sox for first place in the division.

The big problem on the field has been the Red Sox offense. The Sox have been outscored by their opponents 50-44 since the All-Star break, and it doesn’t even feel that close at times. On the season the Red Sox have hit just 100 home runs in 102 games. That’s 27th in the big leagues and dead last in the American League.

But the on-field issues have taken a back seat as of late to the clubhouse soap operas. By now you’ve probably read Dan Shaughnessy’s account of what happened between David Price and Dennis Eckersley on the Red Sox’ June 29th flight to Toronto (if you haven’t used up your free articles for July). Shaughnessy’s story portrays Price as oversensitive and petty, which is not surprising. What is surprising is that, according to Shaughnessy’s story, many players applauded Price’s dressing down of a broadcaster who is essentially a team employee.

Then on WEEI yesterday, after evading the question several times, Manager John confirmed that he had not apologized to Eckersley since the Price incident. The second David Price media explosion of the month. John Wayne Manager John is not. Manager John is afraid he’ll lose the clubhouse if he simply asks one of his highest paid players to stop acting like an unrepentant asshole.

Normally with the team in a tailspin the last week of July, trade deadline blockbusters would seem less likely. But, the Red Sox still have the second-best record in the American League. The Red Sox certainly don’t look like a World Series contender right now, but who will stop them? The Houston Astros are the favorite to win the American League right now, but they aren’t your traditional juggernaut. They’ve made the playoffs once in the last dozen years. Don’t tell me they couldn’t be beat in a series.

Which leads me back to my original point. Today is a big day for Sale and the Red Sox. If they win, they have tomorrow off and come home for a 10-game homestand that starts Friday. If they lose, does John Farrell get on the same plane as the 25 players? Or does Dave Dombrowski try to find a no-bullshit manager to try and right the ship for two and half months?

If only such a manager were available…

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