Red Sox southpaw David Price’s start Saturday against the Yankees was another rough outing for the longtime ace, who allowed six earned runs, seven hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings of an 8-2 defeat. After signing a record-setting contract with Boston over the winter, Price has gotten discouraging results in four of his first seven starts with his new club while posting a bloated 6.75 ERA. Along with Price’s subpar run prevention, his velocity is down this season, leading John Tomase of WEEI to wonder if there’s an issue with the 30-year-old. Both Price and manager John Farrell insist he’s healthy, though pitching coach Carl Willis acknowledged Price’s downturn in velocity Saturday. “Really, we just haven’t seen the velocity at this point that he’s had before,” he said (via Roger Rubin of ESPN.com). “It is May 7, so power pitchers tend to get it a little later, and we’re starting to get into May now.” Even with his velocity-related troubles, Price has still put up an 11.54 K/9, 2.93 FIP and 2.94 xFIP, indicating that a turnaround could be on the way.
Now for a quick look at the NL East…
- Thanks in part to his ridiculously hot start this season (.402/.448/.654 with four home runs in 116 plate appearances), Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy has compiled a 142 wRC+ over the past calendar year, including playoffs, to put himself in company with stars like Buster Posey and Anthony Rizzo. His resounding success is no accident, writes FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron, who points to some meaningful adjustments Murphy has made to facilitate his offensive explosion. For one, Murphy has changed his stance, as tweeted by Mike Petriello of MLB.com, and is now both less upright and closer to the plate than he previously was. He has also markedly increased his pull percentage each year since 2013 and is hitting fewer balls on the ground, leading to more line drives and extra-base hits. While Cameron doesn’t expect Murphy to be the best offensive second baseman in the game going forward, it seems the Nats may have gotten themselves a bargain when they signed the ex-Met to a three-year, $37.5MM deal in the offseason.
- Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud has been on the disabled list since April 26 with a rotator cuff strain and doesn’t appear primed to return in the near future, as he felt discomfort while trying to throw a ball Saturday, Adam Rubin of ESPN.com was among those to report. “Pretty discouraging for him and us,” said manager Terry Collins. Mets catchers Kevin Plawecki and Rene Rivera have collected just eight hits in 46 at-bats while filling in for d’Arnaud this year. Prior to landing on the DL, d’Arnaud also got off to a forgettable start (.196/.288/.261 in 52 plate appearances) and contributed to the Mets’ offensive woes behind the plate. Mets backstops have thus far posted a 60 wRC+, the ninth-worst mark in the majors.
The 2 worst ERA’s in the AL among qualified pitchers are Price and Verlander. In the NL Scherze (4.6), Greinke (5.15) and Chen (4.66) have all underwhelmed, Collectively they signed deals worth almost 900 million
Something tells me teams will be reluctant to offer such deals to SP’ers in the future unless there is a turnaround
Of course, Zimmeramn, Kennedy and Cueto have done OK, and Kershaw and Lester are looking good,, so some of these deals work. However, it seems more like a roll of the dice at times
It’s a roll of the dice on any mega contract. Your comment makes no sense
exactly. There’s not a team in MLB that wouldn’t have liked to sign Price. Lester has done well this year but he was mediocre last season. Zimmerman, Kennedy and Cueto are off to very good starts but it’s a long season. Grienke had two bad games which has made his ERA look terrible—–but when you get right down to it, does it matter if you lose 2-1 or 7-1? It’s still a “L”, but only ONE loss. Derek Holland gave up 11 runs in two innings the other day and saw his ERA go up nearly three runs per game. But….it’s still just one loss.
FIP and xFIP. LOL. What a bunch of hogwash. Price is not pitching well. He never was, and never will be, worth $31 million/year. Kershaw is a legit star, Price isn’t. Thank goodness the Yanks didn’t go anywhere near Price.
Yes, the Yankees have sure been the epitome of prudent on their FA signings.
Lol. These 7 starts aside, Price has been one of the very best pitchers in all baseball just about all measures. ERA, FIP, fWAR, ect.
Obvi he’s no Kershaw, but that’s because Kershaw is better than every other pitcher.
What Price are you talking about? Because the article was about David Price, and in his career he has been an elite pitcher. Maybe you thought it was about Bryan Price? If that is the case, then you are correct. Bryan Price has not shown himself to worth $31 mil.
Price established himself as one of the elite pitchers in baseball, and when youre the best you can command that mind of money.
Just because youre a Yankee fan doesnt mean you cant appreciate David Price
Lmao no one’s worth 31 mil a year.. And you’re still wrong.
Price has been one of the top five pitchers in the game. Their “worth” is whatever someone is willing to pay for their talents. The Red Sox “won” the bidding war for him. In his case, the Price was Right. More power to him. After all the mistakes for high priced talent, I don’t know why teams do what they do—–but more power to the players. No one put a gun to Arte Moreno’s head and forced him to sign Pujols to a record contract that will pay him over $30 mil a year when he’s 40+ years old.
Price hasn’t been a power pitcher for a while. He’s a guy who relies on command
Price appears tentative. as if his conflict is a mental battle. The same hesitancy that creeps up in Price’s playoff appearances is apparent early in Boston. Price needs to sort it out between the ears.
Price seems to have the same disease that has afflicted so many big contract, first year Bosox contracts. Meaning, trying to do too much too fast. The list is long and hopefully he’ll figure it out.
The harder you try to throw hard, the less hard you will throw. Relax David. And I’m not even a Sox fan, but I’m a big Price fan.
So he hasn’t been a power pitcher and he has lost more than two miles per hour off his fastball. Pretty soon he’ll be Jered Weaver.
You’re insane if you think that
All pitchers lose velocity over their careers. He’s been a great pitcher for a long time and should be appreciated for that. The decline is inevitable just like Verlander and Sabathia. Let’s all appreciate the entirety of his career.
Uh, no? He just got the most money a pitcher has ever received in fa. You expect results.
Sadly the good pitchers succeed till they get a contract like that
Is kershaw > good then? He signed a massive deal in 2014 and he’s been pretty cool since then
You expect him to win 7 Cy Youngs after he turns 30? The Sox knew the chance they were taking when they gave him this contract. It may turn out bad for them but these things happen.
Cool strawman. Yes, because there is absolutely no middle ground between winning a cy young and appreciating him for his career (as opposed to expecting him to still produce at at least a decent clip).
There is a 0% chance the sox expected david price to have a 6 era at this point in year ONE of the seven year deal (although his fip is way way better than that). These things don’t “happen” in year one of a 217 million dollar contract without disappointment
Are you just totally unrealistic or a crazy red sox homer?.
I don’t think teams sit there and plan out what they think somebody’s ERA is going to be at each point in the season. April- mid May does not make a full season. The guy has, what another 20-something starts to make if he stays healthy?
You sound hysterical. You really think his .373 BABIP is going to stick?
He’s pitched over 1200 innings in the last 6 years. He’s a relatively skinny guy (6′ 5″, 215 lbs.), so like Pedro he was likely due to slow down sooner rather than later. I’m sure they expected a couple of good years out of him but the signing seemed desperate at the time. When you buy a car with very high mileage you can’t be too surprised when the transmission fails.
Thank you Chester.
Price was a bad signing. Never sign older pitchers from your own division. Everybody sees too much of them. Especially bad signing for Sox because Yanks started hitting price well last couple of years.
He’s not old
If Price didn’t have issues with his control you may have a point. If he makes his pitches, this isn’t an issue. He’s shown this season he’s capable of exceeding expectations and either way, he’s pressing.
The Tigers were smart to get rid of price and get Zimmerman in the offseason. Key move
Price is better than Zimmermann, unless you want to go off a small sample ERA. In that case, I suppose Steven Wright and Rick Porcello are aces.
Price is likely a better pitcher than Zim, but he’s not better at the same ratio that their contracts end up costing. Zim was a way better signing
Red Sox had a large enough budget where they didn’t seem to care who had a better “contract ratio.” They wanted Price and got him.
Very well said!
The tigers were smart to trade price at the deadline and get new talent. If they had a choice to get Price or JZ at the amount Jz signed for, they would have taken Price.
However they did get very lucky with the zimmermann signing as he will likely become the ace this year with verlander struggling.
D. Murphy in the headline. That narrows it down to about 56 players. Daniel, David, Donnie… Dewey, Darrell, Dennis, Dylan, Dicky, Derek…….
Price is just one more headcase to add to a collection of headcases in Boston… Buchholtz and Kelly in same boat … Team looking for Bulldogs and they got mouses on the mound instead go figure?
If Price pitched anywhere near the 31M dollar pitcher he is…. the Sox might not be in last place.
They’re in second place though.
They are in second place, a half game behind the Orioles, and five ahead of the Yankees for last place.
Price is a top 5 pitcher period if he was in the nl he would be a lot more dominant due to the weak everyday lineups! Bring kershaw to the al and lets see his numbers.
CK has an 11-4 .733 winning pct vs AL teams with a 2.33 ERA. Against NL teams, CK is 107-53 .66 PCT…..with a 2.42 ERA. So….CK is BETTER vs AL teams. There ya go! 🙂
The problem is that he is in the AL for the next 7 years.
1. The NL is outhitting the AL thus far.
2. Kershaw would still dominate in the AL. If anything he would do better in the AL for awhile because guys aren’t accustomed to him. He is a special player. (I’m not an LAD fan, I actually loathe them and their fan base, but I appreciate CK’s talent).