Let's not be comparing Price to Crawford. Crawford was a complete washout after he got paid. Price at least is on the cover of the 2018 World Series DVD set.
Price's contract would only be a little more than half over. He's still due more than 100 million. And other teams are probably feeling a little pessimistic about how well he'll age too.
I don't think it was that big of an opportunity. We weren't going to re-tool with what we got for broken goods like Porcello and Moreland. Trading Price would have been a salary dump which would have mostly resulted in us paying half his salary to play elsewhere.
The pen should not have affected the rotation at all. What affect could the pen have had on Sale and Porcello this year?
I think that's just grabbing at straws.