David Price Could Stay With Toronto Blue Jays
In the blink of an eye, Toronto dug deep into the MLB talent vault to grab ace David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, and several other much-needed components for their playoff push. With a lineup consisting of Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, and Josh Donaldson, one can only assume the future plans of competing for American League’s talent congested East have reached fruition now. At the center of it all sits Price, who could become someone else’s prize this winter. Or not.
The Blue Jays have long forgotten the Twitter fiasco erupting shortly after their bench-clearing brawl with Kansas City. Toronto is poised to carry their current 7-3 run deeper into August with hopes their current wildcard berth eligibility withstands Baltimore, Texas, and Minnesota — three teams with legitimate playoff teams — until the final regular season game is played. Somewhere in the back of GM Alex Anthopoulos’s mind, however, the future of David Price in a Blue Jays uniform looms as each start passes.
Anthopoulos quarterbacks moves that formed an explosive offense, but still hasn’t found that “great” rotation worthy of writing home about. When he reached out to now-dismissed Tigers GM Dombrowski regarding the availability of David Price, the Blue Jays exec was undoubtedly taking a huge risk knowing he’d become a free agent after the season. However, he worked magic in moving VW van dwelling Daniel Norris to Detroit, and for now secured his future in Toronto.
David Price went 8 innings, whiffing 11 in his Blue Jays debut. Fans already knew his prowess, so those numbers aren’t particularly surprising. The 29-year-old will strike gold that should amass Scherzer’s fortune this off-season, commanding north of $30 million per season. Question is, will Toronto give him the five- or six-year deal he’ll request? With Donaldson, Tulo, and everyone else locked up next year, the possibility exists. Chicago, of course, has indicated they’d do whatever necessary to secure his services, so expect an all-out bidding war.
Speculation is 9/10ths of rumor, and with plenty of season left to prove risky moves will pay off, the Blue Jays won’t worry about David Price contracts until Winter Meetings. He’ll have roughly 10 or 11 starts before the season ends, which is plenty of time for American League East foes to beg his departure happens sooner than later.
At 56-52, the Blue Jays are situated much better offensively, and defensively according to some, in terms of competition against teams calling themselves playoff contenders. If David Price is responsible for a magical run into the World Series, expect Toronto to seriously entertain signing this guy to something long-term. And expect Price to gladly accept.
(Photo By Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images Sport)
