MONSTER DEAL
Boston lures Price with $217M offer,
When the news first leaked that former Blue Jays ace left-hander David Price had come to terms with the Red Sox for a gaudy seven years and $217 million on Tuesday afternoon, it forced Canadian fans to come to terms with something else — reality. After Price was dropped to No. 2 in the Jays’ playoff rotation and after failing once again to win a post-season game, the fact is he was never coming back.
It had been a sweet roll of the dice by former general manager Alex Anthopoulos that fateful afternoon in late July, when then-Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski called to ask what the Jays had to offer for the Cy Young runner-up, the top free agent, along with Zack Greinke, in this off-season market. After hours of angst, late into the night, Anthopoulos put together the right package of prospects to satisfy Dombrowski and the deal was done. Now Dombrowski, as Red Sox president, has Price back.
Perhaps the Jays’ GM had seen the writing on the wall back at the trade deadline and was all in on Price with the knowledge that he was likely on his way out as GM. But, even with Price gone, he cannot doubt that three-month run was worth it for Jays fans, selling out 30 straight home games, creating the story of the year in Canadian pro sports. There can be no regrets about that magical trip to the verge of a World Series, with Price 9-1 and dominating the Yankees to lead the way. But it’s over. Price was a rent-a-player. A remarkable and necessary addition to the rotation, a key to the Jays returning to the playoffs after 22 seasons away, but mercenaries seldom stay after the dust has settled — especially in defeat.
The leak about how the Jays were his No. 1 choice was always a ploy to drive the market. He was always going to the highest bidder with no Blue Jay Nation discount.
In fact, the majority of fervent, realistic Jays fans already understood that the future price of doing business as a free agent for the next seven seasons was going to be well out of the U.S. dollar-range willing to be spent by Rogers ownership and incoming president Mark Shapiro.
Now Price is gone, so it’s time for fans to move on. The only thing that hurts is that he has signed with the mortal enemy Red Sox.
That guarantees that his first appearance on the mound for Boston at the Rogers Centre will be marked by boos that may rival the cheers he earned for almost three months in blue. It may approach the David Wells, Roger Clemens, John Farrell range of displeasure.
There is no salary cap in baseball, so Dombrowski, fired by the Tigers in August, was able to lure Price to Beantown by offering a reported contract at $31 million per year through 2022, with no creative deferrals the Jays prefer.
Two things should be noted about the Price contract. First, it is an identical $31-million-per-season deal (all figures in U.S. dollars) to the one Dombrowski handed to the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera in 2014. Cabrera’s was eight years and $248 million. Second, the total amount for Price is $2 million more over seven years than the previous high for a pitcher, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, covering 2014-20. Greinke now has the bar set for his negotiations this winter. Another former Tiger, right-hander Max Scherzer, rounds out the sole four players in history to average over $30 million.
The make-it-rain Red Sox now have nine players for 2016 that will be earning $10 million or more in guaranteed money. That group — Price, Hanley Ramirez ($22M), Pablo Sandoval ($17M), David Ortiz ($10M), Dustin Pedroia ($13M), Rick Porcello ($20M), Clay Buchholz ($13M), Rusney Castillo ($10.5M) and Craig Kimbrel ($11M) — will combine to make $147.5 million, which by all accounts is likely to eclipse the entire Jays’ 25-man major-league payroll.
The Red Sox finished 78-84 in 2015 and have to add 15 wins to catch up to the Jays. The Sox signed Price, while the Jays signed J.A. Happ. The Sox have Price at the top of the rotation. The Jays have Marcus Stroman. Hmm. Can Toronto hold off the Red Sox to defend the East, as well as the New York Yankees, who surely will make headlines before the winter is out?
Jays fans believed the next step after the excitement of October and the giddy Jose Bautista bat-flip should have been building on that success and winning a World Series. Now, the bandwagon is slowing down to allow for the jumpers. One thing that should be noted is that no team with Price in its rotation has ever gone to the World Series. The one time he went was in 2008 as a rookie, working effectively out of the bullpen in a loss to the Phillies.
So when he returns to Rogers Centre don’t boo him for the Jays’ failure to launch a pursuit. That’s all on Jays ownership. It’s the business of big-time sports, it’s just that it’s the Red Sox. But, as a positive, maybe this will force the Jays to keep improving — but at a lesser price.