Red Sox agree to $217M, 7-year deal with David Price

The Red Sox have agreed to terms with free-agent left-hander David Price on a seven-year contract worth $217 million, CBS Sports MLB Insider Jon Heyman confirms. He debuted with the Yankees in 2007. In 2015, he batted. There is an infrastructure here of a good, young, cheap roster. The Cardinals had previously explored trading for Price, and during that process learned of the lefty’s interest in pitching for them. Somehow, I think Price is going to continue putting up numbers at least for the next few seasons. “But when you go into the winter meetings, you never know what happens”.

The two have had some very public confrontations in the past. They can’t look in their farm system or elsewhere in free agency and find a pitcher like Price for less money. It beats Max Scherzer’s seven-year, $210 million deal signed last offseason as the largest ever free agent pitcher contract.

David Price has a new home for 2016 and beyond.

The Sox can offer David Price $217 million but can’t move up their offer up 15 million or so to bring back Lester?

It’s always been said that there’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal, and that remains true. Kelly? I give Kelly the benefit of the doubt because his stuff is too good for him to not be of value to this club in some way (he had a strong second half before being plagued by injury). No matter what rumors were circulating about Price’s preference in respect of where to play, this was – purely and simply – always about who would pay him the most.

With the Price signing following Jordan Zimmermann taking five years and $110 million from the Tigers to leave the Nationals, a market is starting to develop.

The baseball calendar says the season begins with spring training in late February and ends with the World Series, which this year wrapped up on November 1.

“No problems. All that’s in the past. Now he is my partner”, Ortiz said.

Price, 30, is coming off a 2015 season in which he pitched to a 2.45 ERA and 4.79 K/BB ratio in 220 1/3 innings for the Tigers and Blue Jays. With Price now aged 30, the philosophy of handing a nine digit contract to a player who can be a misfire for them considering his post season performances where he has a record of 2-7 and ERA of 5.12 over the 14 postseasons. Over his eight-year career, spent with Tampa Bay, Detroit and Toronto, Price is 104-56 with a 3.09 ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio just under four.

The Red Sox can always find a way to make more money.

By the time he left the event hosted by former major leaguer Wally Joyner, Price had agreed to become a member of the Boston Red Sox with a deal that will make him the richest pitcher in history.