Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher David Price is set to hit free agency as one of the most prized targets on the market this winter.
Continue for updates.
Blue Jays Interested in Re-Signing Price
Monday, Oct. 26
“We have strong interest in David Price coming back here,” Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said Monday, per the team’s official Twitter account. “We will be in the game.”
Price, when asked if he would be back with the Blue Jays after the team was eliminated in the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals, simply said, “I don’t know yet,” though he did say he would “absolutely” consider re-signing, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.
He won’t come cheap. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe spoke to eight anonymous managers, scouts and general managers, who all agreed that Price would be the top pitcher on the market and should garner a deal in the range of seven years and $210 million. They speculated that the Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs were all logical destinations for the pitcher.
Price, 30, was once again one of the top pitchers in baseball in 2015, finishing 18-5 with a 2.45 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 225 strikeouts in 220.1 innings pitched in stints with the Detroit Tigers and Blue Jays.
While his trend of postseason struggles continued—he went 1-2 with a 6.17 ERA in 23.1 innings pitched for the Blue Jays in this year’s playoffs—he’s a true ace and one of the game’s finest left-handed pitchers, making him a rare commodity.
The Blue Jays will need to fork out a hefty sum of cash to keep him, but if they hope to return to the postseason in 2016 and win a World Series, the investment would appear to be a worthwhile, and perhaps even necessary, one.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com