In an interview with the Boston Globe’s Stan Grossfield, David Price talked about everything from Boston traffic, his shoe size, to his assumptions of Red Sox fans. Price said some really eye-opening things in this interview, some that were slightly disturbing and rather questionable. First things first, Price has had one hell of a past year or so. In December of 2015, he signs a 7-year, $217 million contract with the Red Sox to make him the highest paid pitcher in baseball history. He goes on to have an underwhelming, roller coaster of a first season with Boston: stinking it up for the first two months or so, absolutely lighting it up in the middle of the season, and regressing from then on, leading to his failure of another postseason game, making him 0-8 in playoff starts. Then, he notably made jokes about his playoff record on Twitter, encouraging the trolls furthermore. Price also said that he received racial taunts from Red Sox fans at Fenway. The most recent event was Price being scratched from a spring training start due to elbow/forearm soreness, leading to a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, to then being perfectly fine, requiring no surgery nor injections. It’s already been a memorable time in Boston for the guy, just one season into his tenure with the Red Sox. Price has made it very clear that he is determined to make Red Sox fans love him, he’s as motivated as ever to win a playoff start, and everything else in between that you can think of. That entire timeline all leads up to a unique interview in which he essentially says exactly how he feels about Red Sox fans, and it isn’t pretty, and it’s hurtful, especially if you’re a Red Sox fan. These are some notable quotes and excerpts from the bizarre interview: Q: Do you feel there’s less pressure this year because of the acquisition of Chris Sale and Rick Porcello coming off his Cy Young season?
A: I didn’t feel any pressure last year. I wanted to pitch really well because I was coming to a new team. It wasn’t because of the contract. I don’t know how much money I made last year. I don’t worry about that stuff.
You don’t know how much money you made last year? That’s a load of bull. For starters, you literally signed a contract that stated how much money you’ll make with the Red Sox year by year. You went over this stuff with your agent and the team multiple teams, I guarantee. We all know you know how much money you’re making. You know you know how much money you’re making. Secondly, Price sent out a tweet back in September of 2016, correcting a user on how much his contract was worth.
PRICE TWEET
Q: What is your passion?
A: I have a foundation, Project One Four. That’s one of the things that honestly chafed me about being in Boston — with the reporters, not one time did anybody take the time to get to know me or my foundation or anything I do away from the field?
Oh, boy. Reporters don’t get paid to get to know players on a personal level, nor do they have the time for that. Does that mean that they don’t care? Not at all. These people aren’t getting paid to ask you how you’re doing or ask about your charity. I’m sure that many of them appreciate what he does for the less fortunate and hope he’s doing okay in his personal life, but it’s not their job to ask or talk about those things with a player. You can’t go and assume that they couldn’t give less of a flying heck because they aren’t required to ask about that kind of stuff. Those people have strict deadlines and so many people to talk to; there just isn’t enough time to do that in that specific field. Why is he so worried about what people think or feel about him, anyways? I thought that he didn’t care or worry about what others thought of him, and that he didn’t let that kind of stuff get to him?
Q: One of your heroes is Satchel Paige, right?
A: Oh yeah.
Q: So Satchel Paige always said, “Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you.” So why are you still looking behind you on this 0-8 thing?
A: It’s what’s going to be said. If I say it first, what do you have to say about me? You have nothing to say about me personally. That’s the only thing you have to say.
Q: Tell me something about you that people don’t know. Surprise me.
A: People in Boston don’t know anything about me. The only thing I have to do is pitch good. People don’t care about what I do or the type of person I am. That doesn’t matter.
Here we go. Some people say some mean things to you on Twitter because you pitched worse than expected and you automatically assume that nobody cares about you? You think that all Red Sox fans think that you’re just a slab of pitching meat? Come on, now. You can’t go generalize every Red Sox fan. That’s only going to make it worse. Price wants to patch things up between him and the fans, but he goes out and openly assumes something like that? He’s only taking steps backwards. It’s painfully obvious that the Twitter egg avatars own real estate in his head.
Q: It matters to me.
A: It doesn’t matter to those people in Boston. I’ve got to go out there and earn respect by pitching well. Period. That’s the only thing that’s going to turn the page for me in Boston. I’ve got to go out there and dominate. People don’t care what I do off the field.
Q: You don’t think they care if you’re a good person or not?
A: No, no chance. They don’t care. If they care, I wouldn’t have went through all that crap I went through last year. If they cared. Period. You have to be in my shoes. If you lived it…
What ‘crap’? Some writers wrote the truth about you and your performance and some Twitter users who are eternally jealous of you said some mean things? If you want to succeed in Boston, the last thing you want to do is let the fans and media get to you. Price is so mentally soft, it hurts. I love him and I still can’t believe he’s actually on my favorite baseball team, but my goodness. To say that nobody gives a damn about you or your wellbeing is cruel. The number of fans that care about him on another level heavily outweigh the fans that don’t, and I wish he’d realize that. This is just the perfect example of the fact that every little thing gets to his head and inevitably affects his performance, and it’s only getting worse somehow, which I didn’t think was possible at this point.
Q: What size are your shoes?
A: 13 ½. If you lived it and you told me they cared, OK. If you experienced it on a day-to-day basis — everything — you wouldn’t think that. They don’t care. I’m David Price the pitcher; I’m not a a person.
Q: You’re David Price, the human being.
A: Oh, I appreciate that, but you’re not everybody in Boston.
Q: So how do you change that? You’re not helping yourself if you’re going on vacation in Hawaii and you’re tweeting about your 0-8 to some guy who’s jealous of you.
A: I’m going to continue to be a good person on a day-to-day basis. I’m going to continue to treat people the way I expect to be treated. I’m going to respect people. I have fun on Twitter; Boston is not going to change that. I don’t care. I’m not going to change to come here and change to please people in Boston. No chance, man.
Everyone should always treat people the way they want to be treated; we all learned this stuff in kindergarten. It’s one thing if you say that, but the way he talks about Red Sox fans in this interview immediately before he says that is just hypocritical. In half of this interview, he trashes Boston fans in every way possible. I’m positive that he would have a meltdown if every single Red Sox fan said stuff like that about him and made such assumptions. I’ve yet to meet a single Red Sox fan who openly despises David Price like he’s making all of us out to be.
Q: We can do something about it. People don’t know that you’re bringing coffee to the trainers at 6:45 AM.
A: People don’t care. I’m going to catch crap for bringing in Starbucks — sorry this is not Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m going to catch crap for that 100%. I could quote John 3:16 right now and I would get nothing but negativity. Period. You can’t please everybody.
Q: Aren’t you giving the internet bullies ammunition?
A: Ammunition? Oh, I don’t worry about it. I know I’m going to be great in October at some point. I work too hard. I want it too bad. It hasn’t happened yet. I know it’s going to happen.
Honestly, as a devout Red Sox fan, this is pretty concerning. The negativity he’s referring to is the chirpers on Twitter and the radio talk show hosts, I’m certain of that. Nobody gives even a half of a crap what kind of coffee you’re bringing the trainers, man. People behind a keyboard commenting on your tweets do this because you give them that so-called ammunition. Price complains and is as paranoid as ever about these people, yet he’s the one who’s walking right into it with the things he says in real life and on social media. Sure, fans aren’t happy about his first year struggles in Boston, but the main reason as to why we get so frustrated and let our anger out on him is because of those things he says (like in this entire interview), the fact that he’s viewed as mentally soft (which he is), and it doesn’t seem like he’s worried about changing all of the above.
That entire interview felt like a Goddamn therapy session to me. It really opened my eyes, and I’m sure every fellow Red Sox fan feels the same way. Those statements were the exact opposite of uplifting. He’s coming into his second year with the team and still allows the heckling fans to get right into his head and bother him. Price knew what he was getting into when he signed with Boston. It’s cliche, but the Boston fans and media are notorious for being overly-harsh and critical. All we want is to see him succeed. Just because us fans are hard on him doesn’t mean we couldn’t care less if he ended up in the hospital today or that we don’t care about his charity. Price is more than capable of becoming a great postseason starting pitcher, and I’ll always believe that, but until then, we get to deal with stuff like this.
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