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  • Twins Offseason Trade Target: David Price


    Cody Christie

    Minnesota might have to get a little creative if the club fails to sign one of the top free agent pitchers. Gerrit Cole already signed a record-breaking free agent deal with the Yankees, which has left teams like the Dodgers and the Angels scrambling for other arms. If the Twins can’t land a free agent starter, plan B could be to look for a trade target.

    Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

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    David Price is entering the fifth year of his seven-year, $217 million deal. In each of the next three seasons, he is guaranteed to make $32 million and he will be in his age-36 season at the end of the deal. The left-handed hurler has pitched over 2000 career innings, but he hasn’t had over 200 innings since the 2016 campaign.

    Since 2016, Price has averaged 119 innings with a 3.75 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. Last season, he posted a career high 10.7 SO/9, but it also came an increase in his BB/9 from under 8.0 to 9.1. Throughout his Red Sox tenure, there have been some health issues, but he has been able to post a 118 ERA+ with 609 strikeouts in 588 innings.

    Price is still a very good pitcher even if he isn’t the pitcher many fans will remember from when he was in contention for multiple Cy Youngs. His fastball is down a couple miles per hour from his career average (91.9 mph compared to 93.9 mph), but he can still top out at over 95 mph. This speed drop has meant he relies more on his change-up which he used 10% more than his career average last season.

    Price might still have some left in the tank. Since 2017, he is one of only 29 starters that have topped 350 innings with a strikeout-to-walk ratio over 3.00 and an ERA+ better than 110. There’s no guarantee that he will be able to keep up this pace over the next handful of seasons, but he has already shown the ability to adjust his pitching by relying more on his change-up.

    It’s no secret that Boston is trying to dump salary this off-season in an attempt to get under the luxury tax line. This will mean trading some of their more expensive players like Mookie Betts, JD Martinez, and/or Price. Betts could likely bring back a haul, but the 2018 MVP seems more likely to stick in Boston to lead their current core players.

    There are a few things Boston could do to make a deal happen. With the hefty amount remaining on Price’s deal, the Red Sox could agree to pay some of the remaining cost. Taking on a player with a higher salary would also be an option, but that wouldn’t help Boston to cut salary. The Red Sox could include another valuable piece to entice a trading team to take on more salary.

    If you were the Twins would you trade for Price? How much salary do you think the club would be willing to absorb? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

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    That isn’t the point. Give me someone that isn’t completely horrendous against them. His numbers against them are THAT bad. I’m not scouring the market for guys who are Yankee killers. I do, however, want to know who SUCKS against them and if anyone ever has, it’s David Price.

    So he can keep losing to the Yankees someplace else

     

    Out of curiosity I checked: Both Ryu and Bumgarner had one start vs NYY in 2019. Both lost and neither were very good. Ryu got shelled in August. Bumgarner lost but went into the 6th in April, gave up 11 hits though. 

     

    Ryu had four starts in a row at the end of August and his first start of September where he was absolutely awful; the Yankees start was the second of four. These four starts inflated his ERA a full run, from 1.45 to 2.45. 

     

    Kuechel in 2018 had one really good start vs the Yankees and one okay one. 

     

    Out of these three, Kuechel has been the best recently vs the Yankees. Small Sample Sizes.

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    Jon Lester is 13-6 vs the Yanks but he's 35 now and still can't throw to 1B.

    Being good against the Yankees wasn’t the ONLY CRITERIA being used. Price is so awful against them it’s a deal breaker for me.

     

    And quite honestly to heck with Bumgarner

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    I was kind of skeptical about that Fangraphs article detailing the Benintendi/Rodriguez pot sweetening angle, and I still am a bit, but thinking about it more, any team looking to deal with the Red Sox would really have them over the barrel. Next year Price will be a 10/5 guy with the Sox so he could veto any trade. If they want to get rid of him, it's basically now or never.

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    https://www.mlb.com/breaking-news/david-price-red-sox-trade-possibilities

     

    Some noteworthy items from the article:

     

    - Among the teams in play for Price are the Padres, Cardinals, White Sox and Reds, while the Angels have also been in contact with the Red Sox.

     

    - Moving Price might actually be easier, despite the remaining financial commitment and the left wrist injury that cost him most of the final two months of the 2019 season. Prior to the wrist injury, Price was having a terrific year, going 7-2 with a 3.16 ERA through his first 17 starts. While many viewed Price's contract as being a significant impediment to a potential trade, the recent activity on the pitching market has aided Boston's cause.

     

     

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    If the Twins don't want to give MadBum $20+ million a year, why on earth would they trade for washed up, injury prone David Price and pay even more salary for him?

     

    Makes zero sense IMO.

     

    Well, I think the twins might be ok with giving Bumgarner $20M per year, but it might not matter if he doesn't want to play here, wants to stay in the National League, and wants to stay on the west coast (with possibly both the Dodgers and Giants bidding to keep him).

     

    Maybe the Red Sox are willing to eat $10M per year of Price's salary. 

     

    Price being washed up is pretty debatable, though: he was effective until injury last year, excellent in 2018, and putting up a fine season before injury in 2017. His peripherals still look good: BB/9 is pretty stable over the last 3 years, HR/9 has been up a bit in the last few years...coinciding with the HR rate in baseball going way up. K/9 was a career high in 2019. H/9 was a career worst, but the BABIP on him was the worst of his career by 25 pts. Is it not possible that he was just a little unlucky last year?

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    Assuming we flat miss out in FA, I'm open to Price if he is healthy. But I need enough $ eaten to make his annual value to be $25M or less.

     

    Boston gets nothing in our top 10 prospect list. They probably get 1 in the next 10 and a flier.

     

    As detailed by others here, healthy, he has performed well recently. It's the healthy and stay healthy part that is key to the deal working.

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    Out of curiosity I checked: Both Ryu and Bumgarner had one start vs NYY in 2019. Both lost and neither were very good. Ryu got shelled in August. Bumgarner lost but went into the 6th in April, gave up 11 hits though. 

     

    Ryu had four starts in a row at the end of August and his first start of September where he was absolutely awful; the Yankees start was the second of four. These four starts inflated his ERA a full run, from 1.45 to 2.45. 

     

    Kuechel in 2018 had one really good start vs the Yankees and one okay one. 

     

    Out of these three, Kuechel has been the best recently vs the Yankees. Small Sample Sizes.

    Thanks for doing that.  I didn't actually research Price, but rather I already knew it was not good.  Looking at it for the first time it is pretty bad:

    https://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/split_stats.cgi?full=1&params=oppon%7CNYY%7Cpriceda01%7Cpitch%7CIP%7C

    He's pitched basically a full season against them and has a 5.04 ERA and a 1.425 WHIP against them in just over 250 innings.  

     

    If the mission is to get further in the playoffs then he is not the guy.  Ryu and Bumgarner (as noted by you) have too small a sample size to glean anything from it.  Nevertheless, those two names do nothing for me.  Bumgarner has appeal because of his "pedigree" although he is not the guy he was five years ago.  We would need to pay extra for his past and his image.  Ryu turns 33 and he will be looking for a mini windfall.  There will be a couple of teams willing to overpay and we will need to beat those bidders.  Not smart if you ask me.

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    Assuming we flat miss out in FA, I'm open to Price if he is healthy. But I need enough $ eaten to make his annual value to be $25M or less.

    Boston gets nothing in our top 10 prospect list. They probably get 1 in the next 10 and a flier.

    As detailed by others here, healthy, he has performed well recently. It's the healthy and stay healthy part that is key to the deal working.

     

    Honestly, I'm less concerned by the money, for it is money we have and pitching we lack. Thw twins have marked the time... (tm Terence Mann)

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    Only way I would take on Price for that "price" is kind of like the NBA trades.. will take that bad contract if there is something that comes with it.... Price and one of the killer B's would do it. Send Rosario back to them with a low level quality prospect..... 

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    To elaborate, Price has been very good for a long time, when healthy. Playing in Boston in the AL East is tough. Last year he was unlucky with batting average on balls in play. So some reasons to think he can be better this year.

     

    I’d say he’d be worth a flier. If the Sox pay some of the salary, and throw something else in (a prospect would be good), they should go for it.

     

    I don’t think he’d be good for all three years left, but he could be for 1-2 years, by which point, the Twins will have several of their prospects ready to move into the rotation.

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