After a long, long road to recovery for David Price, manager John Farrell recently announced that the lefty will be activated from the disabled list and is set to make his first start of the 2017 season on Monday at the Chicago White Sox. After experiencing elbow soreness early on in spring training, Price threw countless bullpen sessions and simulated games in an effort to rehab his throwing arm. It took a solid two and a half months until Price was able to make rehab starts for AAA Pawtucket, but he finally, recently made two at the end of May.
Neither of his rehab starts looked great on paper, totaling 5.2 innings pitched, 12 hits, 9 runs (6 earned) with 8 strikeouts. After his second start, Price sped away from the stadium and didn’t speak with the media, seemingly upset and overwhelmed. It wasn’t, by any means, an ideal scenario, but Price insists that he’s feeling great and is ready to face major league batters, and I believe him. After tossing numerous boring bullpen sessions and three-inning simulated games, he finally got to pitch in a live game, but he wants to face MLB hitting. He is the only one that knows how his arm feels and we need to trust that. Let it be known, in those two rehab starts, Price didn’t have a real defense behind him, so things will be made at least a bit easier on him when his infielders can actually field ground balls.
As for positives in his starts, his velocity was excellent and maybe even a step up from where he was last season, which is great news. Price averaged around 95 MPH and his fastball topped out at 96 MPH. He got a better feel for his changeup and his cutter as the games moved along, which is, again, great to see. The one problem that he had was his command. He simply couldn’t locate his fastball, which is what mainly did him in in both of those starts. Price’s command is typically his strong point, and if he can’t locate his fastball at the big-league level, he’ll be in trouble, yet again. Though, I feel that if he has the ability to throw a solid curveball and changeup considering the condition he was in, say one month ago, he has the ability to command that fastball.
Unfortunately, since it arose just days ago, we have to talk about Price and his unwillingness to talk to the media. Personally, Price will always have my support, and he’s always been one of my favorite pitchers. But, his whole “I won’t talk or give legitimate answers to the media” thing is getting pretty old. I understand his constant frustration, but at some point, he is going to need to come to terms with the fact that there will always be people that don’t like him. His phony answers when the media just wants a truthful answer from him is disheartening to see and hear time and time again. He has every right to be upset, but he needs to realize that there are fans that do like and support him and he should thrive off of them instead of focusing on the haters. Before he speaks to the media, he could get his anger out by punching something and getting his mind in a good place after an outing like he put together in AAA. It’s sad to see how mentally soft he is, but for once, he just needs to start blocking out the negative and focus on himself and the positive.
Anyways, back to baseball. While Price is set to start on Monday, Chris Sale is scheduled to pitch behind him on Tuesday. This is perfectly executed by the Red Sox. Price is pitching in front of Sale so that if Price can’t go deep, the bullpen can put their focus on Monday and get to relax a bit on Tuesday, as Sale is almost guaranteed to go at least 7 innings. It’s a small thing, but it will pay off big time if the push comes to shove. Protecting this current bullpen needs to be one of Boston’s top priorities right now, so simply slating Sale after Price is doing just that.
Speaking of that 1-2 punch of Price and Sale, those first two games are going to be, to the likes of, must-watch TV. David Price is making his season debut on the road one day, while Chris Sale faces his former team for the first time the next on Tuesday. That’s what I like to call a classic case of Red Sox porn. Fans’ eyes will be glued to the television in hopes of seeing Price succeed and Sale give the middle finger to his old team, at his old home.
John Farrell said, when he announced that Price would make his long-awaited debut, that the team intends to keep a short leash on him at first in regards to innings. That only makes sense, given his rusty showing in Triple-A. God forbid Price goes out there and turns into a flaming dumpster fire on live television, but if he does, Farrell will be quick to pull him, whether the lefty likes it or not. Right now, the Red Sox kind of need Price to succeed, though. The back end of their rotation has been a debacle since day one and it’s not getting better. They’ve gone through a handful of fifth starters already, and it’s not even June. If Price can simply eat up some innings, look somewhat like his old self and be efficient while doing so, a huge weight will be lifted off from this team’s collective shoulders.
Boston’s rotation is currently 18th in the majors with a 4.47 starters ERA, which is simply unacceptable, especially since you have Chris freaking Sale manning the ship. Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez are the only Red Sox starters with an ERA lower than 4.35. This rotation is one reliable starter away from being one of the better rotations in the league. It needs a bit of solidification, and a healthy David Price will do the trick. If Price can get on track, a rotation that consists of Porcello, Sale and Price will leave the opposition shaking in their boots. That right there is the Golden State Warriors-like super team that others were speaking of before this season began.
This move by the team to “rush” Price back is rightfully controversial, but I think it’s the best thing to do at this time. It’s kind of a desperation move by the team, but that’s because they are desperate. They’re desperate for someone not named Chris Sale to eat up some efficient, well-pitched innings. They’re desperate for a guy to finally solidify this mess of a rotation. And that’s okay. Price himself says that he feels great, so you have to go by that. If he says so at a time like this, you kind of have to take him off of the DL and let him go out there and pitch at the major league level. While he didn’t look great in those two starts, all he needs is some adrenaline to get him going and he should be set. He needs and wants to face major league batting, and that should be the key to his success. He doesn’t care as much at the minor league level to put up his very best performance, naturally and rightfully so, but he certainly will in the majors.
Letting Price start his major league season by facing the White Sox is a great baby step at this time. They’re not a good hitting team, or a good team at all, for that matter. Price shouldn’t have too many problems with that lineup and will hopefully have somewhat of an easy time to get him settled in. I wouldn’t be shocked if he has a shaky first inning or even two innings to begin the game before he gets into a groove, but I think it will be an overall good outing for him. He probably won’t go more than six innings and might give up 4-5 runs, but it will be a good starting point for him, nonetheless. Only time will tell if he’s healthy and/or talented enough to pitch a successful ~¾ season, give or take, but the time to start taking the path to finding out if he is a go for this season or not has to be now.
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