Boston Red Sox: Best free agent signings in franchise history
By Drew Athans
David Price
“Wait a minute, didn’t you put David Price on your list of the Red Sox worst free agent signings?” I can hear you asking this, so let me head you off right now and answer by saying that yes, I did and as (perhaps) a cop-out, I think he belongs on both lists.
In the previous list, I went through the reasons why I considered Price one of the worst free agents the Red Sox signed. The gist of it was that while he wasn’t bad, he wasn’t great and given the investment they put in him (seven years and $217 million), the Red Sox didn’t get their money’s worth.
Price had two really good seasons and two injury-plagued seasons in Boston. Those were all reasons I factored in then, so how can I turn around now and say he was also one of their best free agent signings? For many of the same reasons (I told you this was a cop-out).
As stated in that last article, he was really good during the 2016 and 2018 regular seasons and his pitching in the 2018 ALCS and World Series were huge reasons why they won both of those series. I’m not going to post his numbers again (you can find them in the other list), but I will say this one more time: he should have won World Series MVP over Steve Pearce.
The real reason David Price is on both lists is because I could make a compelling case for both. Also, while he wasn’t much liked by fans and the media, his teammates all seemed to love him and that probably accounts for something, I guess. Anyway, let’s move on to the last one.