Now that the 2013 Major League Baseball season has concluded for the Tampa Bay Rays it is time to speculate. The Rays 2013 payroll of $58 million was the third lowest in MLB and as they play in one of the smaller markets they must always sell high in trading players and buy low in acquiring prospects. This plan has been successfully executed in the past by Rays general manager Andrew Friedman. Following the 2010 season, Freidman traded starting pitcher Matt Garza to the Chicago Cubs for five players including utility man Sam Fuld and starting pitcher Chris Archer. Garza was coming off of a season in which he won 15 games and the Cubs were desperate for starting pitching. Following the 2012 season, Freidman traded starting pitcher James Shields to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Wil Myers. Like Garza, Shields was coming off of a 15-win season and the Rays traded him to get younger as Myers is now a candidate to become the American League Rookie of The Year. Now entering the off-season you have to wonder if starting pitcher David Price will be with the Rays in 2014?
Price is coming off of a season where he was 10-8 with a 3.33 earned run average, but he came up big when the Rays needed it most as he pitched a complete game in the play-in game two weeks ago against the Texas Rangers to get his team to the playoffs. Price is a three-time AL All-Star and he took home the American League Cy Young Award in 2012. Price is 28-years of age and he won’t be eligible to be a free agent until after the 2016 MLB season.
Price’s pending value on the trade market will come down to whether or not some of the big-market teams are willing to take a bite.
As competitive as the AL East is, it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that the Rays could trade Price within the division to the New York Yankees. After missing the playoffs for only the third time since 1993, the Yankees will be desperate to get back in 2014. The Yankees are looking to compete and get younger, but they don’t have the prospects in their minor-league system that the Rays would covet.
The Los Angeles Angels have not made the playoffs since 2009 and they have been a huge disappointment in the past two seasons. The Angels appear to be stuck holding the bag with the bad contracts of outfielder Josh Hamilton and first baseman Albert Pujols. Angels owner Arte Moreno has decided to retain the services of general manager Jerry Dipoto and manager Mike Scoiscia, but he is desperate for the team’s first World Series Championship since 2002. With the Los Angeles Dodgers still alive and well in the MLB Playoffs, Moreno is eager to keep up with them in the Hollywood spotlight. The Angels team earned run average this past season of 4.23 was 11th in the American League and they are desperate for a front line starter.
The Texas Rangers have attempted to get starting pitching, but they have been rebuffed several times. After helping the Rangers reach the World Series in 2010, starting pitcher Cliff Lee left to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. Following the 2011 MLB season, starting pitcher C.J. Wilson left the Rangers to sign with the Angels. In 2012, the Rangers were able to sign Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish, but it cost them $51 million just to obtain the rights to negotiate with him as the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan weren’t going to let him go for cheap.
In two seasons with the Rangers, Darvish is 29-18 with a 3.34 earned run average, but he is only one man in the starting rotation. After making the World Series in 2010 and 2011, the Rangers haven’t not won a playoff game in the past two seasons. The Rangers are desperate to get back to the playoffs, but would general manger Jon Daniels be willing to part with infielder Jurickson Profar who they are really high on? In order to potentially obtain Price from the Rays, Profar would have to be a part of that package.
Price has enjoyed a tremendous career with the Rays. After starring collegiately at Vanderbilt University, Price was first overall pick of the MLB Draft by the Rays in 2007. In 2008, Price worked out of the bullpen in the playoffs to help the Rays make their only World Series appearance. Price loves playing in Tampa Bay for Rays manager Joe Maddon, but he understands the business side of Major League Baseball. Price has seen others leave Tampa in the same fashion and he knows that it will happen to him eventually.
If Price is traded, he will finish his Rays career as the franchise’s all-time leader in career earned run average (3.19). Price is the only Rays pitcher to win 20 games in one season as he accomplished the feat in 2012. Price isn’t the first and he won’t be the last Rays player to be auditioning in Tampa for another MLB team.
Source:Baseball-reference.com
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