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The season that was: David Price

A look a David Price's 2015 season.

By Tom Dakers
Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

The Troy Tulowitzki trade surprised me, the David Price trade floored me. I was amazed. When we got Tulo, my Twitter feed was full of "why did we get another bat, we should have gotten a pitcher' and then suddenly we got a pitcher. Alex seemed to have listened to all the complaining from 2014's trade deadline,and decided he wasn't going to have that happen again.

And, it worked out, we made the playoffs.

And Alex is gone before the loss of all those prospects shows it's cost.

Just to remind you, we sent Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt to get Price to take Felix Doubront's spot in the starting rotation. As a group, we were happy with the trade:

54% Love it.

31% Like it.

7% Neutral.

6% Dislike it.

2% Hate it.

He was pretty good:

                                                                                
Year   Age  Tm W L  ERA  G GS CG    IP   H ER HR BB  SO ERA+  FIP  WHIP BB9  SO9
2015    29 DET 9 4 2.53 21 21  3 146.0 133 41 13 29 138  156 3.06 1.110 1.8  8.5
2015    29 TOR 9 1 2.30 11 11  0  74.1  57 19  4 18  87  172 2.22 1.009 2.2 10.5

Baseball Reference tells us he had a 3.5 WAR with the Tigers and a 2.4 WAR with the Jays. FanGraphs doesn't separate the numbers, but gives him a 6.4 WAR for the season, giving him a total value of $51.2 million to the two teams.

He had a rougher time of it in the playoffs. In the ALDS he had a 7.20 ERA, with a 1-1 record, in 10.0 innings, 1 start, 1 relief appearance. In the ALCS he had a 5.40 ERA with a 0-1, in 13.1 innings, over 2 starts.

Baseball Reference splits out his FIP, 3.06 with the Tigers and 2.22 with the Jays. FanGraphs has his xFIP at 3.24, a little worse than his ERA (2.45).

Batters had a .290 BABIP against him.

David's strikeout rate was down from 2014 (25.3%, from 26.9). His walk rate was up (5.3% up from 3.8).

His line drive rate was up (23.1% from 20.6), he had a slightly fewer ground balls (40.4% from 41.2) and he had slightly few fly balls (36.4% from 38.1). Fewer of his fly balls left the park (7.8% down from 9.7).

Batters had reverse splits against Price. Lefties hit .262/.384/.374, right-handers hit .219/.267/.342.

Price had better numbers on the road than at home for the Tigers or at home for the Jays:

Comerica: 3-2. 3.00 ERA in 10 starts. Batters hit .261/.289/.394.

Rogers: 4-1, 2.61 ERA in 6 starts. Batters hit .203/.245/.301.

On the road: 11-2, 2.05 ERA in 16 starts. Batters hit .220/.270/.340.

David Price by month:

  • April: 2-1, 3.38 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .244/.303/.345.
  • May: 2-1, 2.49 ERA in 6 starts. Batters hit .244/.282/.378.
  • June: 3-0, 2.02 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .246/.263/.373.
  • July: 2-2, 2.25 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .231/.275/.396.
  • August: 4-1, 2.28 ERA in 6 starts. Batters hit .209/.246/.319.
  • Sept/Oct: 5-0, 2.32 ERA in 5 starts. Batters hit .205/.264/.277.
Price's longest win streak was 5 which he did with the Jays in his last 5 starts of the season. He also did it with the Tigers running from June 6 to July 9. His longest losing streak was 2 games.

His highest GameScore was a 82, in a game with the Tigers against the White Sox, June 6. He went 9 innings, allowed 5 hits, 1 earned, 2 walks and had 11 strikeouts. He had a 81 GameScore in his next start against the Indians. His best game as a Jay was an 81, against the Twins, 8 innings, 3 hits allowed, 1 earned, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts.

His worst start of the season was on Aprill 22 against the Yankees, a 4 GameScore, for 2.1 innings, 10 hits, 8 earned, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. His worst regular season start, for the Jays was September 26, a 42 GameScore, in 5 innings against the Rays. He allowed 6 hits, 5 earned, 1 walk with 6 strikeouts.

I did enjoy getting to watch him on the Jays. He was great on the mound (well, great during the season) and seemed to be a terrific teammate. He cheered from the sidelines from the very day he was in Toronto. Buying the scooters was a great way to make friends.  Alex Anthopoulos said he was the best in the clubhouse of any player he's ever seen.

I don't know how you go about valuing that when you are offering a contract. I think it is a nice part of the package, but I don't know if you give a guy a couple of million extra because he is a good guy.

I was hopeful the Jays might be able to sign him, but I think the $31 million a year that the Red Sox gave him is more than I'd want to pay a pitcher in his 30's.

His troubles in the playoffs? I have no idea, likely just sample size stuff, but I don't know. I don't really believe that he was tipping pitches. I wondered if the troubles would cost him in free agency, but I can't imagine he could have gotten more money or years.

I thought Alex saying that he would have offered Price a contract was kind of the ultimate in passive aggressiveness. I don't believe he would have matched the Red Sox offer, so any offer would have been just for show. It really does seem that he said it to ramp up the dislike of Shapiro.

I'd like to have best wishes for Price, but he's a Red Sox now, so I can't. I'll stop short of hoping his arm falls right off, but if he loses every start he makes over the next 7 years, I'd be ok with that.

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