Being involved in trade rumors is nothing new to David Price.
So, as uncertainty surrounds the Red Sox this offseason, the left-hander is staying focused on preparing for the 2020 season rather than worrying about whether he’ll continue to don a Boston uniform when the dust settles.
“It doesn’t affect me. I’m still coming up here Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, getting my work in,” Price told WBZ’s Jonny Miller on Monday at the Red Sox’s spring training complex in Fort Myers, Fla. “I’ve been traded from Tampa Bay, from Detroit. I’ve been traded twice, and it’s part of the business. This is a business at the end of the day, and changes are going to be made, moves are going to be made, and you’ve just go out there and continue to play baseball.”
Price is coming off a 2019 season in which he was limited to 22 starts because of injuries. The 34-year-old posted a 7-5 record, a 4.28 ERA, a 3.62 FIP, a 1.31 WHIP and 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings across 107 1/3 frames. He made his final start Sept. 1 and subsequently underwent surgery to remove a cyst from his left wrist, but he’s now throwing four days a week with an eye toward being ready when spring training begins next month.
But will Price still be with the Red Sox come Opening Day? There’s been plenty of talk about Boston’s desire to cut payroll this winter, and Price is scheduled to earn $32 million in each of the next three seasons. As such, his name has been floated in trade speculation as new Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom shapes Boston’s roster for the upcoming campaign.
“I’m sure there will be changes. I don’t know what changes will be made,” Price told Miller. “(Bloom) did a really good job while he was in Tampa. I remember him from whenever I signed in Tampa, and the years that I was there, he was always with (Andrew) Friedman. We have history together.
“Chaim has a pretty good résumé of being able to have a lower-payroll team and still to be able to put out a very competitive product on the field. I think if that’s the way we’re trying to go right now, to get under the luxury tax, then that’s what they’re trying to do.”
Price, drafted first overall by the Rays in 2007, spent his first six-plus seasons with Tampa Bay before being shipped to Detroit at the trade deadline in 2014. The Tigers then traded Price to the Toronto Blue Jays at the deadline in 2015.
Price landed with the Red Sox in the ensuing offseason, prior to the 2016 season, and he has spent the last four years in Boston, winning a World Series title in 2018. It’s been a rollercoaster tenure, and it’ll be interesting to see in the coming weeks and months whether the ride continues a little longer.
