Just hours after the second ace on the trade block drops off, the final and third one does as well, yet again for another surprise team. After there were 5 teams vying for David Price, the Toronto Blue Jays won the bidding, as they finally do something to improve their pitching. In return, the Tigers will receive three pitching prospects, one of which is Daniel Norris (left handed starter), who is the #18 overall prospect by Baseball America. After acquiring Tulo and Price, there is no doubt the Jays are looking to get into the postseason this October and make some noise, but was this a good pick up considering that the ace left hander becomes a free agent at season’s end?
Since the Jays aren’t known for their pitching prospects, they didn’t give up much, they got Price on a cheap bargain, so at least they have that going for them. However, for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 1993, can they give a good enough pitch to David Price to convince him to sign a long-term contract with the club? There is no doubt that Toronto will give him plenty of run support and have the offense of a championship team, but scoring runs is second to pitching when it comes to winning the Fall Classic. In the pitching department the Jays have severally struggled for years, so David will be one of few bright spots on the pitching staff along with Mark Buehrle (the other great lefty; who is leading the league in complete games). Surely the former cy young award winner will be a good fit for the Jays, considering that he knows the division so well being brought up with the Rays and all, along with actually having good run support this time around the AL East, but will he be ok with all the pressure on his shoulders for turning around Toronto’s pitching staff?
With a payroll over $100 million already, before the acquisition of Tulo, the Jays won’t have a whole lot of space to sign big pitching contracts during the offseason, so with Price most likely going to be asking for upwards of $85 million, he may be the only contract over $20 million the Jays will be able to offer. Surely with the astonishing lineup and Price at the helm of the rotation the Jays can be competitive for years to come, possibly making the postseason multiple times, but as the last decade has shown, a great bullpen and 3 solidified starters win championships. Will the Jays really have that much confidence in Price to carry the pitching staff to a championship (the ace is 1-5 with a 4.50 ERA in the postseason)? Better yet, does Price want to join yet another team that will come up short of winning it all? As he has told the media, he wants to win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIeYAzFQgBs
