David Price may very well have pitched his final game in a Rays uniform.
The Rays were eliminated from the postseason with a 3-1 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday, and Price said on a conference call the following night that he does not expect to return to Tampa next season.
“If you go with what’s been done in the past, I guess you’re going to have to think you’re going to get traded,” Price said, according to The Tampa Tribune’s Roger Mooney.
“You’ve seen it happen a couple of times already. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know what’s happened in the past.”
Tampa Bay does have a history of swapping elite, established arms for prospects, having done so with both Matt Garza and James Shields in recent years. Though Price, the 2012 Cy Young Award winner, says he would like to remain with the Rays if an appropriate deal can be agreed upon, he also says he would have no ill will toward the organization if he were to leave.
“It’s not disappointing or anything like that,” he said. “This is a place I love to be. My teammates and everyone in the organization knows that. It’s part of baseball, and it’s something I’ve seen go on, it’s kind of something I somewhat prepared myself for.”
The 28-year-old lefty had somewhat of a down year by his lofty standards in 2013, going 10-8 with a 3.33 ERA in 27 starts. He threw a complete game in the American League tiebreaker against Texas to push the Rays into the playoffs, but he was roughed up in his lone postseason start, allowing seven runs on nine hits and a pair of David Ortiz home runs in a Game 2 loss to Boston.
