Who are David Price's best friends?

[Examiner]

Right now his best friends are opposing hitters, or at least he's a great friend to them. He sucks. I have never trusted this guy and still don't. Best case scenario is that we are seeing Josh Beckett II from 2006, and can only hope for the 07 version next season. He is not to be trusted.

[Northern Star]

We'll win tomorrow.

 

That sounds like a bet. What are you staking?

[devildavid]

So what's wrong with Price?

a)injured

b)it's too cold

c)doesn't care about performance now he's got the big contract

 

I'm starting to worry he has an undisclosed injury or physical ailment bordering on an injury. I'm hoping it's just this damn cold weather. I'm getting sick of it myself!

[cp176]

Price's performances to date are killing me. Not panicking by any means but quite honestly and once again for the good guys we aren't getting anything that resembles what we paid for. Even on his worst days he was not supposed to look this bad so consistently. Never though that I would say this, but even for teams with deep pockets, there has to come a time where you just get sick of throwing money away. I get it - we all know that he will be better but really this bad? I'd almost rather watch Owens walk runners around the bases as opposed to watching a 30 million dollar man pitch this way.

[harmony]

On a related topic, in a vacuum, whose contract is more valuable: that of 30-year-old David Price, who entered the season with seven years and $217 million on his contract, or that of 33-year-old Robinson Cano, who entered the season with eight years and $192 million remaining on his contract?

 

Each raises the dangers of long-term contracts but should not be judged solely on his year-to-date performance.

[CliffKlowers]

Price really slows the game down. Between pitches yesterday a did a laundry, vacuumed two rugs, and made a lasagna. It must be tough playing defense behind him. He'll return to form. I say that based on probability theory and because I am an optimist.

[Kimmi]

That sounds like a bet. What are you staking?

 

No bets. I always lose and end up jinxing my team in the process. Just optimism.

[Kimmi]

On a related topic, in a vacuum, whose contract is more valuable: that of 30-year-old David Price, who entered the season with seven years and $217 million on his contract, or that of 33-year-old Robinson Cano, who entered the season with eight years and $192 million remaining on his contract?

 

Each raises the dangers of long-term contracts but should not be judged solely on his year-to-date performance.

 

Your last sentence pretty much sums it up. It's too early to make any judgments on which contract will be more valuable. When Cano signed his contract, I and pretty much everyone on the planet said it was ludicrous. It would be hypocritical of me to say Price's contract is not crazy.

 

I'm very happy to have Price on the team, even with his slow start, but I was against that contract from day one. Then again, I am against pretty much any long-term contract.

[Kimmi]

Price really slows the game down. Between pitches yesterday a did a laundry, vacuumed two rugs, and made a lasagna. It must be tough playing defense behind him. He'll return to form. I say that based on probability theory and because I am an optimist.

 

Price's pace yesterday was maddening, very Buchholz like. I agree completely. I just hope it doesn't take too many more games for him to figure it out.

[curiousd]

Observation: Of course there is the well known "big payday" effect. R.S. fans like me were down when the Yanks picked off Ellsbury, but now that contract is being talked about as being one of the worst in Yankee history. Look what happened to the Angels once they broke the bank with Albert Pujols. The Red Sox and Fatso... Vernon Wells in Toronto..? Anyone with a better memory than I have inclined to list examples where there was a benefit for forking over the big payday versus getting shafted?

[mvp 78]

Remeber how horrible Manny was after coming from Cleveland? All that money thrown down the drain!

[jacksonianmarch]

Obviously. It's not like Arrieta and Kershaw have only slightly higher AFV's than Price this year. Not aces.

 

They both have been dominant with a lower velo. Price has been dominant with the higher velocity. He builds off his elite fastball. When that elite fastball goes, the rest of the stuff needs to break more and locate better. I thought CC could do that, but he hasn't proven it yet. If this is the beginning of the velo decline phase for Price, he better work on his location more, because the same stuff 2 mph slower is a lot more hittable

[jacksonianmarch]

You cannot give up on him 6 starts into his sox career. If the high end velocity returns, then he's too good to continue like this. My only concern for you guys would be if the velo is gone. If he doesn't return to the mid 90s with the capability to hump it up on occasion, then he's going to have to re-learn how to pitch. And you don't pay $217 mil to a guy who has to reinvent himself on day 1

[tom-uk]

A couple of years back there were a handful of Yank fans on BDC in denial about CC concerning his velocity loss. I admit I enjoyed picking the scab. Now maybe it is our turn with Price,and Mariners' fans with King Felix and his 89 mph FB this year. What goes around comes around!

 

The biggest failure of Ben and Theo was the failure to develop a top starter for a long time. It leads to watching the painful decline phase of former stars.

[harmony]

A couple of years back there were a handful of Yank fans on BDC in denial about CC concerning his velocity loss. I admit I enjoyed picking the scab. Now maybe it is our turn with Price,and Mariners' fans with King Felix and his 89 mph FB this year. What goes around comes around!

 

The biggest failure of Ben and Theo was the failure to develop a top starter for a long time. It leads to watching the painful decline phase of former stars.

 

Advanced metrics so far this season paint an interesting picture of David Price and Felix Hernandez, two 30-year-old former Cy Young Award winners who reportedly have suffered a drop in velocity this year:

 

DP 7 GS, 6.75 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 2.95 xFIP

FH 6 GS, 2.21 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 4.32 xFIP

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3184&position=P

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4772&position=P

 

The samples are too small to be particularly meaningful, but they're interesting nonetheless.

[redsoxdirtdog]

Right now it's Rick Porcillo and Steven Wright, because if both of them weren't performing as well as they are everyone would be on Price like white on rice for not being the ace we thought we were getting. Since these two guys have stepped up like they have the team is winning and we're willing to give Price a chance to settle in but if they weren't it would be getting pretty ugly by now.

 

No real point here....just an observation.

 

Let's hope we can soon add Clay and EROD to this list.... if Kelly comes back strong?????? I'm not at all oposed to a 6 man rotation!

[Kimmi]

You cannot give up on him 6 starts into his sox career. If the high end velocity returns, then he's too good to continue like this. My only concern for you guys would be if the velo is gone. If he doesn't return to the mid 90s with the capability to hump it up on occasion, then he's going to have to re-learn how to pitch. And you don't pay $217 mil to a guy who has to reinvent himself on day 1

 

One of the reasons the FO was willing to give Price such a large contract at his age is because their reports, both scouting and statistical, told them that:

 

1. He would age well, meaning he would not have a big drop in velocity any time soon.

2. He has the control to reinvent himself quite effectively when that loss of velocity does occur.

 

If his velocity loss is indeed due to aging, I have confidence that Price will reinvent himself just fine. That said, I agree completely that this was not something we expected from day one of the contract.

 

At any rate, too early to draw any definitive conclusions.

[Kimmi]

Speaking of Kelly, Dombrowski said that there are currently no plans to put Kelly in the pen.

[Slasher9]

Remeber how horrible Manny was after coming from Cleveland? All that money thrown down the drain!

 

WTF are you talking about? He batted over .400 in April 2001 with 9 hr and ops over 1.200

In fact he hit a HR in his first Fenway AB in a red sox uniform. I was there for it.....

[S5Dewey]

Hmmm... has anyone noticed that sarcasm doesn't always carry well on line?

[mvp 78]

WTF are you talking about? He batted over .400 in April 2001 with 9 hr and ops over 1.200

In fact he hit a HR in his first Fenway AB in a red sox uniform. I was there for it.....

 

It was a sarcastic post based on the post right before it that decried big ticket FA.

[StephenCurry30]

Manny was a beast, but a majority of these long term contracts end up being awful, especially at the end of the deal.

[Bellhorn04]

Manny was a beast, but a majority of these long term contracts end up being awful, especially at the end of the deal.

 

We seem to be pioneering the long term contracts that are awful in the first year of the deal.

[StephenCurry30]

That is true, Crawford, Pablo, Hanley (although he is okay now) and thus far, Price.

[jacksonianmarch]

One of the reasons the FO was willing to give Price such a large contract at his age is because their reports, both scouting and statistical, told them that:

 

1. He would age well, meaning he would not have a big drop in velocity any time soon.

2. He has the control to reinvent himself quite effectively when that loss of velocity does occur.

 

If his velocity loss is indeed due to aging, I have confidence that Price will reinvent himself just fine. That said, I agree completely that this was not something we expected from day one of the contract.

 

At any rate, too early to draw any definitive conclusions.

 

We thought the same thing about CC. Oh, he has the slider and the change up, he can manage with diminished velocity. Well, we were wrong. The problem isn't necessarily the velocity. Some amazing pitchers couldn't break 90 with consistency. But those pitchers knew how their stuff moved to such a significant degree and they could locate it enough that they could put it exactly where they wanted to and they knew the sequences which were most effective against opposing batters. That's the biggest thing. If CC could locate his 4 pitches to a point every time, he'd be a CY candidate. The problem is, good velocity can hide a lot of location mistakes. And good velocity also gives you back the upper part of the strike zone. A guy throwing 90 cannot use the upper portion of the strike zone. He either needs to be right on the edges, above the zone, or off the zone on either side. Guys like CC and Price would go to that upper tank to change the eye level and overpower a hitter with 96. When that 96 goes to 91, those pitches that used to blow by hitters are being stung into the stands. Some pitchers make the adjustment well. Others don't. We all thought CC would, but we were wrong. You have absolutely no idea if Price will transition well should this loss of velo be permanent. And one thing that the sox FO didn't even fathom was the possibility of that change happening on day 1

[Slasher9]

It was a sarcastic post based on the post right before it that decried big ticket FA.

 

Apologies!

[Bellhorn04]

Price says Pedroia pointed out something that was different about his mechanics.

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/05/08/david-price-says-problem-easy-fix/HtnyWUNw6KsPUd3Vn2KQyI/story.html

[redsoxdirtdog]

God love Pedey, but this should never have come out. It doesn't make anybody but Pedey look good. To me, it really makes Carl Willis & Farrell look bad. I heard Pedey is already thinking about bucking for pitching coach when is done as a player. He plans to parlay this into manager. I also heard he's been studying Donald Trump's delivery when he says "make America great again." Early in the primaries Pedey said he'd always follow that up with, "it's gon a be YUGE," Pedey was looking at some tapes from Wisconsin when Cruz was hitting him hard and noticed that Trump was going with, "It'll be great folks." Trump made the change, and the rest is history. Asked if he was angling for Trump's campaign manager, Pedey said, "are you f*c&ing high? Dude! You've been hanging out with Pablo too much!"

 

Anyway.... While Pedey clearly can do whatever he chooses to after basebsll, I don't like to hear Price grasping at straw. I also hate that stupid f*c&ing red hate Trump wears with the business suit.

[southpaw777]

I doubt he lost 3mph over the winter. It doesnt happen like that unless mechanics are different or there an injury. Price has denied the injury and ill take him at his word for now...i think the mchanics that pedey noticed while looking at film for himself might be the key to his loss in velocity....well, at least im really hoping thats it:cool:

[Kimmi]

Price says Pedroia pointed out something that was different about his mechanics.

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/05/08/david-price-says-problem-easy-fix/HtnyWUNw6KsPUd3Vn2KQyI/story.html

 

Good on Pedroia, but I want to know why he is the one pointing these things out, and not the coaches, whose job it is to see these things. Based on the clips that were aired in last night's game, the difference in mechanics was pretty noticeable. Why did Willis not notice this several games ago?