The Red Sox identified David Price as their top free agent target early on, and they began courting him in November as principal owner John Henry and a variety of top Sox execs all traveled to Nashville, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. Price, in turn, peppered the Sox with questions about their commitment to winning, even asking about this year’s first-round draft pick Andrew Benintendi. GM Mike Hazen walked through the Sox’ entire 40-man roster. Ultimately, Price was swayed. “The youth that we have, the team we can put out there on Opening Day right now, I think that’s very special,” he said today. Negotiations continued after Thanksgiving, and the Red Sox’ willingness to give Price an opt-out helped lead to the signing. Here are more quick notes from out of Boston, where Price was introduced this afternoon.
- The Sox’ future payroll projections helped convince them to make a bold move and sign Price, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes. The team has significant contracts coming off the books in all of the next four seasons, and with the team beginning to rely on a young core that includes Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Blake Swihart, Eduardo Rodriguez and others, allowing them to pay Price far into the future without worrying too much about his salary derailing them.
- Price’s former teammate Josh Donaldson thinks Price will have a huge impact on the Sox, Scott Lauber of the Herald writes. “He’s the kind of pitcher that affects the team for three or four days because he’s going to save your bullpen. He’s going to go up there and eat up innings for you the entire time,” says Donaldson. “And in the clubhouse, he’s a great player but an even better person.”
- Before signing Price, the Red Sox looked deeply into the trade market to try to find an ace, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal tweets. Ultimately, though, many trade talks ended quickly, as the Sox blanched at teams’ opening asking prices.
- The Red Sox were able to add Price and Craig Kimbrel this offseason, but they aren’t going to be able to get rid of Hanley Ramirez, Lauber writes. Ramirez has $66MM left on his contract and doesn’t have a defensive position, and the recent non-tenders of Pedro Alvarez and Chris Carter — both of them younger and much less costly than Ramirez — show that there won’t be much of a market for an expensive and flawed hitter like Ramirez this winter. Ramirez, for his part, doesn’t think there’s anything fundamentally wrong, even after a season in which he didn’t hit especially well and was a disaster defensively. “The thing is, in April, nobody said anything. I had 10 homers,” he says. “I know how it is. It’s the media. When you’re struggling, things are going to come out. I just got to hit and that’s it, and everything’s going to be fine.”
Sure Hanley, keep blaming the Boston media for your terrible performance. It’s THEIR fault that you and Sandoval put up the worst single seasons in Red Sox history in 31 years…
I dont think he’s blaming them for his struggles. More so he’s just saying that the media overblows/makes thing up.
Which is absolutely true, I love the Red Sox but we have some of the worst media around, the reason he had a bad year was that he wasn’t agile enough to play left field, and the shoulder
JT19, Much agreed!
Well sandavol has been on a downward trend for the past 5 seasons now and considering how bad he actually was, the media didn’t jump on him at all in comparison to Hanley. Nobody said it was the media’s fault they had bad seasons. Both were often injured, complete liabilities in the field and between the two, only hanley was a threat at the plate throughout the year. What Ramirez is saying is that when he was hitting, the media never was saying how he was a bad clubhouse guy, that he couldn’t hit and were not talking about how he was such a defensive liability that much. And, just like you would, doesn’t want to hear the media saying all that so he said the only way to fix it is to rake.
There IS a world where Hanley Ramirez bounces back nicely, and I think too many people are dismissing that as impossible. I’d call it more likely than getting anything out of Pablo.
I honestly think Hanley will be very solid next season
He will be fine next year.
And I’m a Yankees fan. I WANT him to be a non-factor.
id like to think pablo will bounce back too but man that guy will swing at anything, and its so frustrating to watch him GIDP all day
Never though I would like a comment on this site by a Yankee Fan but i just did it haha
I have been saying that all along and i had yet to find anyone to agree with me! Thank you!
Sandavol has been on a downward trend for 5 years now in large part due to injuries due to his weight issues which will surly not get better as he ages and have already begun to show that.
Ramirez on the other hand showed what he was capable of last season in April, and with a year of not having to learn to play the outfield, adjust to a new organization and stay healthy, I see no reason why he can’t hit well
I’m pretty sure the $30m extra did a lot of the swaying.
First of all, Hanley needs to be a professional. Cut out the pine tar-caked helmet flying, do-rag and dreadlock routine. Please…
Hanley might be more humble this season. I can’t imagine he’s insensitive to the fact the team played much better without him down the stretch. And with Ortiz retiring after this season – a player he’s considered a mentor – this is his chance to show his determination. And considering the Sox have a viable option in Travis Shaw, he should wake up and realize he’s a DFA candidate if he can’t get it together.
Id rather see pablo leave i never liked that signing i always thought it was bad, it would be nice to see ghem ship off pablo and try and package a deal for frazier
Never liked the pablo signing, i was hoping mayybe trading pablo who still has a little value along with some lower tier prospects to get a number 2 then maybe making a package of prospects for frazier
It is hard to believe that just two years ago, the Tigers had three starting pitchers on their staff that combined apparently had a value of $600,000 and yet they still failed to win it all.
Well Hanley…then pull your head out of your back pocket and hit. We’re forced to deal with you for 3 more years(!) so just go hit 30 HRs and shut up.
I have a lot of faith that Hanley Rameriz will turn it around. He’ll be back in the infield where he has played throughout his career. Things should be more natural for him now AND he won’t have to throw the ball as much being a 1B (not his specialty). Now HanRam can focus on hitting instead of avoiding walls and life as a LF.
The deal for Price couldn’t be better for the Sox. It is, in essence, a 3-year deal at $90MM, for the best left-handed starter in the AL. A true ace with CY credentials and a need to prove he can carry a team to a championship. This is a thousand times better than signing Lester to a 6-year, $160MM monstrosity.
Yes this. There is no way that Price doesn’t opt out of his deal in three years with what Greinke just got.
Perfect. By then, we should have several of our pitching prospects fully developed and vetted at the MLB level. Hopefully, E-Rod will be ready by then to step in and become a legit no. 1.
Isn’t is possible that Price might get injured or have performance issues? I’m not sure I would celebrate an opt out clause in a contract.
If Hanley were in Baltimore or Tampa Bay he probably would have 30-40 HR’s–he hit many line drives that were singles off the Monster. If they want to trade him they should come up with a stat featuring “What If’s.”
I must say that I agree 100% with what Hanley said. When he was hitting in April the media never said he was a bad clubhouse guy or talked about him in a negative way at all, with the exception of his fielding which even that they talked about less than when he came back after he was hurt the first time. Truthfully, the Sox put a guy in the outfield that had never played the outfield at any pro level and expected him to be adequate enough and have a great bat. His bat showed signs of life but injuries derailed his season and he was atrocious in the outfield. Sandavol was signed to play a good third base and have a near if not all star caliber bat. He was atrocious in the field and was by far a worse hitter than Hanley overall. Everyone (Fans and media), talk about how hanley needs to go because he can’t hit and he can’t field but the bigger disappointment was from the guy that was expected to do both, add a nice glove and hit his weight in sandavol. Sandavol needs to go. He has been trending down for years Hanley can still hit. After this year he makes a good DH. Sandavol can’t do neither and is absolutely no threat in any way on the basepath, where as hanley is. Move sandavol not hanley!
In my ideal world, The outfield would be Castillo Betts and Bradley/Young Shaw would play third Bogaerts SS pedroia 2B 1b Ramirez Swihart C Ortiz DH for this season. Holt plays the super utility role again. On days ortiz sits Ramirez DHs and Shaw slides to first with Holt at 3B.
Next season, the outfield stays the same as does the middle infield, but Hanley moves to DH full time, Travis Shaw plays 3B only and Sam Travis plays 1B with Holt as Super Utility once again.