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In memory of David Price

If you’re the New York Yankees or a member of its rabid social media cult, seeing the Red Sox dismantle their team by sending Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers for pennies on the dollar is exciting. (Granted it’s terrible for baseball and if the sport strikes, we can blame John Henry for pushing the philosophy of pocketing the fan’s money.)

Boston’s lineup is hacked and their rotation is slashed. Still, it’s hard not to be sad for one aspect of this trade. The Yankees lost one of their most dependable starters of the last decade.

You see, there was a very simple algorithm on the days that David Price faced the Yankees. You don’t need to know any code and could probably put it on a shirt – albeit it’s too late to do it now. (At least until the World Series.)

Eat.

Sleep.

David Price exists to be barreled up.

Repeat.

The Numbers

Both the eye test and stats agree. The Yankees were as much of Price’s daddy as Pedro was – maybe more. Look at Price’s career numbers against the Bombers.

  • 259 IP
  • 96 Extra Base Hits
  • 5.04 ERA
  • 4.34 FIP
  • 277 AVG
  • 1.42 WHIP
  • .335 OBP
  • .452 SLG
  • .341 wOBA

These numbers inflate when you see how he did against the Yankees when the Red Sox made him the highest paid pitcher in baseball.

Personally, these are stats I would put up in the MOMA:

  • 67.1 IP
  • 39 XBH
  • 7.89 ERA
  • 6.44 FIP
  • .340 AVG
  • .390 OBP
  • .615 SLG
  • .421 wOBA

Here are some other numbers that are worth noting:

  • 16.7% Soft Hit%
  • 45.1% Hard Hit%
  • 22.4% HR/Fastball
  • 2.5 HR/9

And now. What you all came for. The legendary Gary Sanchez vs. David Price jobber matches. (Playoffs included)

  • 21 Plate Appearances
  • 6 HR
  • 12 RBI
  • 2 K’s
  • .500 AVG
  • .619 OBP
  • 1.625 SLG
  • 2.244 OPS

A salute to a hero

These numbers are bad, but they’re behind David Price now. Unless the Yankees are as good on the field as they are on paper, another meeting between he and the Bombers is essentially a crap shoot.

Of course, for Price, there’s no time to wonder about that now. He shouldn’t think about Dave Roberts misusing him – and by misusing I mean starting him twice in the Bronx and not pulling him because he wants to “stick with his guy.” No, until that day comes – if it ever comes – Price is safe from the Yankees and that Boston media he dueled with.

Right now things are good for David Price. He looked relaxed in that presser with Mookie Betts and I don’t blame him. His relationship with LA got out on the right foot within minutes. The thought of making members of the Boston media laugh – media members from NESN and the Boston Globe who find themselves under John Henry’s money tree – was unheard of. He did that out in Los Angeles though.

In that initial presser, Mookie joked that Price will like hitting in the National League. He mentioned he was two for his last four. Price quickly sniped back and corrected him by saying he was two for his last three.

He laughed. Mookie laughed. The media members laughed. Dennis Eckerlsy wouldn’t laugh at that. He’d just mention how in his day, people did things right. (On a side note, Eck pitched for the Red Sox in 1978. During that year, white politicians in Boston didn’t want schools to integrate.)

In a way, the story of David Price is an expensive Shawshank Redemption. At every which way, the walls of Shawshank – or in this case green walls in left field – shadowed Price at every turn. Sometimes his enemies came in the form of his opponents. Sometimes they came in the form of one of his own – with one of his own being former pitchers turned broadcasters.

2019, Price’s year of escape where he crawled through two football field lengths of baseball muck, he was lucky to come out of it on the other side. For Andy Dufresne, escape was a nice beach out in Zihuatanejo. For Price, it’s Los Angeles.

Price will see that LA is a sunny town where nothing goes wrong. If something is a little off, at least there’s medicinal marijuana and klonopin cocktails souped up by some “artist” you can find working on a script in a coffee house.

David Price will never have to worry about those bad innings against division rivals again. Not as long as he’s out in LA at least. Just look at how much Dave Roberts gets away with.

Between leaving 100 home runs on the bench in consecutive World Series games and having Joe Kelly pitch two innings in the ALDS, no mistake is too big out there. It’s Hollywood baby.

You’re safe from reality.