Red Sox: What if Boston never overpaid to sign David Price?

A look back at David Price’s tenure with the Boston Red Sox leads us to wonder where the franchise would be if they never signed him to a record deal.

Hind sight is 20 – 20. No one could have predicted that David Price and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley would have gotten into it on the team plane. No one could have foreseen that Price would have also gotten into it with journalist Evan Drellich. Let’s take a trip down memory lane for the 2015 season. A year after adding Hanley Ramirez to play left field and third baseman Pablo Sandoval, the Sox were lacking in the offensive department.

No hitter had more than 19 long balls during the course of the season outside of their longtime leader, David Ortiz. It didn’t seem to matter what the team did, they could not stay healthy. Ramirez hit his last home run on July 11 and then was eventually shut down on August 26, ending his season. Sandoval struggled mightily, never fully getting comfortable in Boston. He too was shut down on September 20 less than a month after the other new addition was done.

The team was simply put, not catching any breaks. Their pitching staff also wasn’t anything special. Rick Porcello wasn’t getting it done either and this after signing an $82.5 million deal through 2019 to stay in Boston the day before Opening Day. Clay Buchholz was damaged goods in what felt like every season. Wade Miley ended up being the team leader in wins with 11. Two pitchers on the staff have surpassed that now with over a month left in the season.