David Price Signs With The Boston Red Sox

#RedSox in agreement with David Price. 7 years and $217 million. Story on @BGlobeSports: https://t.co/uambYduqBK

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) December 1, 2015

OHHHH BOY! Things just got very, very interesting. David Price pitching in Fenway wearing the red "B" on his cap. Obviously other fans (namely Yankees fans) are coming out of the woodwork saying "Good! Not worth the money and years!" among the other anti-Price arguments. 

The first thing people brought up was obviously the contract. Is 7 years, $217 million absurd? Yeah, but this is baseball, where you overpay for everything. If anyone can afford to take on that contract it's John Henry. If he bankrupts himself, so be it. It;s not my money, and not yours either. There's no salary cap in baseball, so money doesn't matter as long as the man at the top still has a way to make it. 

As for the years argument, there is a 3-year opt out. So when Price is dominant for the next 3 years, he'll opt out in search of a bigger contract and the Sox will cut ties when he does so. He should be in his prime and coming down from it at the end of those 3 years, so this is fine with me. We've also seen plenty of pitchers perform well into their mid and late 30's. John Lackey was 34 in 2013 when the Sox won the World Series. Curt Schilling was 37 in '04 when he helped break The Curse of the Bambino. THIRTY SEVEN. So I'll be the one to throw that argument out the window as well. Moving on...

The David Ortiz beef. Yes, they have had an interesting past and have butted heads. But, as Price told WEEI.com this past July, its exactly that. The past. Jared Carrabis of Barstool Sports has already broken down the Ortiz argument (and postseason one, which I'll get to), but he basically likened it to the Johnny Gomes-Coco Crisp incident. That day Crisp charged the mound, Gomes beat his brains in during the brawl. Who loved Coco? Ortiz. Who loved Gomes when he came to Boston and helped win a ring? Ortiz. Stuff like that can easily be put in the rearview when you're in it for the common goal of winning. Especially now that Ortiz has announced his intent to retire after next season. He wants one last championship, and knows Price can help. It's water under the bridge.

Ah yes. Finally. The postseason argument. Price is 2-7 with a 5.12 ERA in the postseason, and this is a fair point to make. But, as Jared Carrabis also wrote... You know what, forget it. I can't word it any better than Jared so here's the wrap up thought on the last of the Price arguments. 

"Now, here’s the big one. What about his history of poor performances in the postseason? I get it. It’s a more than fair criticism, but I don’t think it should carry as much weight as the Price haters would like it to. Look at the larger body of work here. In his career, Price is 104-56 with a 3.09 ERA. That’s a .650 winning percentage, and you’re either a liar or an idiot if you say that you don’t want a guy like that on your team. This past October, Price suffered his seventh consecutive postseason loss, tying the record for most consecutive postseason losses by a starting pitcher.

Here’s why I think his postseason struggles have largely been a fluke. Not only is it because we’re looking at seven starts spread out over the course of six years, but it’s also because the pitcher whose record he tied for most consecutive postseason losses was Hall of Famer — and arguably the best left-handed pitcher of all-time — Randy Johnson. Johnson lost seven consecutive postseason starts spread out over seven seasons, and he didn’t break that streak until 2001 when he was a co-World Series MVP with Curt Schilling for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Oh, and he was 37 years old. Price is 30 with still plenty of time to shine in October. But nobody remembers Johnson’s losing streak in the postseason. They only remember him mowing down the Yankees in the World Series, which Price is more than capable of doing, as we’ve seen flashes of his dominance as recent as this past ALCS when he racked up 16 strikeouts over his last 13.1 innings."

Welcome to Boston David Price. Let's get some rings.