Red Sox fans should be defending David Price, not slamming him

Add another incident to the contentious saga of David Price’s time with the Boston Red Sox.

When David Price signed his record contract with the Red Sox in the winter of 2015, there was an undeniable sense of optimism and hope that encompassed the future of the club. The Red Sox finally had ‘their Ace;’ the first pitcher since Jon Lester that would anchor a staff, lift up the younger players, and guide the team back to the postseason. Depending on who you talk to, Price mostly delivered on that promise.

By some advanced metrics, he was one of the elite pitchers in baseball last season. His 3.60 FIP was 17th in the majors and his fWAR of 4.5 was 12th, but you would never know that if you followed the narrative that the traditional media created. The narrative has been that Price failed to live up to his price tag and was a disaster over the regular season, only to follow that up with another implosion in the postseason.

The narrative has been that Price failed to live up to his price tag and was a disaster over the regular season, only to follow that up with another implosion in the postseason. Part of that is true – Price did implode in his lone postseason start and would be one of the first to admit it. But to say that his regular season was a failure is patently false. He had bad stretches – particularly the first month of the season and the final four games – but in-between he was one of the best pitchers in the American League.

His image in Boston has only spiraled since. He was paid to be the perennial Cy Young candidate he was prior to coming to the Red Sox and he didn’t do that. Fair. But his perception has become that of a “soft” player that can’t handle the market and hyper-engaged media, which isn’t exactly fair. Making matters worse, he’s missed the first two months of the 2017 season – his real chance to silence the criticism – with an elbow injury.

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Since coming off the disabled list, he’s turned in a solid outing in his first start and eight dominant innings in his second. Nevertheless, he hasn’t been able to escape the constant heat of the media.

During Wednesday night’s game, the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy published an article detailing Price’s decision to end his media availability on days in which he isn’t pitching. The full article is worth a read and provides some insight into Price’s relationship with the city and his perception of the support he receives from the fans if you can read between the lines of his quotes. In short, he doesn’t think many people are rooting for him outside of the guys in the clubhouse.

That article was then picked up and quoted by Evan Drellich of CSNNE on Twitter. Price reportedly took exception to that, or something Drellich had done in the past and pulled him aside for a private discussion after the team’s loss Wednesday night. The full story is available here on MassLive. To summarize the incident, Price’s discussion was heated enough to be audibly heard through the closed door of John Farrell‘s office. After which, Price reportedly dropped a few f-bombs in a conversation with one media member and left the clubhouse uttering “F– them, f– them all.”

First of all, this is a bad look for Price now matter how you cut it. If he wants to change the media’s long-held negative perception of him, getting into shouting matches and swearing at them isn’t the place to start. He’s well within his rights to only speak to reporters when he chooses to, which shouldn’t even be a controversy since it’s a relatively common practice among starting pitchers. That shouldn’t be the issue. But it has become one.

Of course, some members of the market – fans included – have used his decision to fuel the idea that he’s soft and can’t handle the pressures of a big baseball market. The man that was one of the more interesting and personable superstars in the game has become recluded since interacting with the tough media in Boston.

I understood why the media chose to push this narrative over the last two years and moving forward, this incident will only incentivize them to push it further. But I can’t understand why fans argue that David Price can’t handle Boston, or don’t even want to believe that he can.