Yes, I know the answer to the question in my title is most likely not.
The Tampa Tribune put up a little piece on David Price yesterday where he stated he is preparing himself to be traded.
“If you go with what’s been done in the past I guess you’re going to have to think you’re going to get traded,” Price said Wednesday night on a conference call. “You’ve seen it happen a couple of times already,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know what’s happened in the past.”
The hard-throwing young left-hander could instantly anchor the Mets rotation next year with Harvey out and create a competitive atmosphere in Flushing — provided the Mets acquire some offense to back him up as well. Price finished second in the AL Cy Young voting in 2010 — and won the award in 2012 with a dominant year of pitching. He went 20-6 with a 2.56 ERA in 211.0 innings and he followed that up with a 3.33 ERA in 186.2 innings this year. Price has always had a healthy strikeout rate (8.1 career K/9) and does a decent job of keeping the ball in the park.
Price made $10.1 million this year and is likely set for a raise up to around $13 million for next season. He has no long-term deal in place, so that would likely have to be a condition of the deal — similar to what the Mets did with Santana a couple years ago. Price has also been working on his change-up to complement his fastball/slider combo, which would make his arsenal that much more devastating.
Of course, the Rays are smart, and they can hold out for the best possible package. The Mets do have the depth to go out and get Price — but the conversation certainly would have to start with Noah Syndergaard. If Syndergaard hits on his potential, then he becomes an ace for the future — but Price is already an ace, and a left-handed one at that. Some have even suggested that they’d trade Syndergaard AND Travis d’Arnaud for Price — essentially trading R.A. Dickey for him.
So, what do you guys think? Should the Mets target Price? What would be an acceptable trade package? Maybe we can throw in some guys like Brandon Nimmo or Gavin Cecchini, too. …I’m kidding.
Or am I?
No way we go after price, I would prefer to go all in on the Japanese starter and keep Thor….plus the Japanese starter will helpfully help the marketing department sell some more stuff in Japan…
i would go after Price. while he would be a nice addition to the staff, we already have good pitching. we need bats. i would much rather go out and trade for a bat then trade for David Price
my bad. meant to put i wouldn’t
Satish, the one thing that stood out for me in this piece was…
“Some have even suggested that they’d trade Syndergaard AND Travis d’Arnaud for Price — essentially trading R.A. Dickey for him.”
This is a great way of looking at it. I mean one year ago, wouldn’t you have traded RA Dickey straight up for Price. I would have. So if the price was Syndergaard & d’Arnaud, and only those two, I would seriously consider it.
No chance I would sign Price. The Rays are a smart organization. They know you draft pitching, get what you can out of them while they’re affordable and then you let someone else overpay them for their later years. If you look at the teams in the playoffs this year they’re lead by young pitchers that their respective organizations drafted, not signed as free agent in their late 20’s. You draft pitching and pay for hitting.
While I understand your thinking, I posted exactly the opposite on this post in MMO. Dickey didn´t represent the future of the Mets, while Syndergaard and d´Arnaud do. So, to me, it´s not an equivalent. Would I have traded Dickey for Price? Of course. Would I trade Thor and TdA? I´m not so sure about that. I love Price, but a trade for him wouldn´t solve the team´s problem, which is offense. If we´re gonna trade Thor and/or TdA it had better be for a big offensive upgrade– if not, don´t trade them.