Price not looking good
Farrell must address hurler’s vulgar rant
NEW YORK — Now that David Price’s clubhouse meltdown has made him the biggest story in baseball — and not in a good way — the next chapter in this saga will be how the Red Sox deal with it.
And deal with it they must.
As of yesterday, they did nothing. And that makes sense. Given that Price’s juvenile F-bomb attack on various members of the media (including myself) took place Wednesday night, and that he was facing the Yankees last night in the Bronx, Red Sox manager John Farrell was right to step back and do nothing.
So the skipper held back while Price went out and had a horrible outing, allowing six runs in just five innings, including a pair of home runs by Gary Sanchez, in the Sox’ 9-1 loss.
This could have been a statement game for the man who says that henceforth he will only make statements on days he pitches. But the statement game was a bowwow, and Price’s postgame statements were mostly limited to X’s and O’s.
As for what happened Wednesday night, he said, “Absolutely not,” when asked if it had any effect on his awful performance.
“It was not tough at all to play this game,” he said. “This is baseball. This stuff happens. It happens to the best of the best, and it happened to me tonight.”
Farrell says the issue “will be handled” when the Sox return to Boston. Said Price, “It was my start day, so he let me be. I’ll talk to anybody that wants to talk about it in Boston.”
By anybody, we assume he means Red Sox staff, not some press box jamoke who wanders into the clubhouse.
But the Red Sox better handle it now — today — before Price makes another start.
Sorry, big guy, but “absolutely not” won’t keep people from wondering if your juvenile tirade put added pressure on you last night. And, well, we all know how well you pitch in pressure situations.
Now let’s stop for a moment and get this out of the way: It’s not that Price disrespected a collection of sportswriters that’s at issue here. The relationship between athletes and sportswriters has been prickly for as long as there have been athletes and sportswriters, and that’s not ever going to change.
So take the little darlings of the press box out of the equation and think big picture: Consider that Price, who is being paid $217 million over seven years, was skulking around the clubhouse like an 8-year-old Wednesday night, screaming and swearing at various sportswriters for reasons that don’t make sense. And then ask yourself: Is this a good look for a major league baseball player?
It’s not. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s hear from two Hall of Fame pitchers who were members of the Red Sox.
“Why does he want to put this kind of pressure on himself?” said Dennis Eckersley on last night’s NESN pregame show. “Why does he want to do this at this time, in New York? It makes no sense.”
Eck noted that Price is “an intelligent guy,” and that “you got to suck it up.”
And then there’s Pedro Martinez, who weighed in with a couple of tweets.
In the first, he wrote, “I think Price needs to realize that who he (is) in Boston is going to draw attention. He just has to keep his answers honest with the media.”
In the second tweet, Martinez said, “The history in Boston has always been the same. Boston is a small town and the Sox are the number one team. The attention is always there.”
David Price needs to listen to Dennis Eckersley. He needs to listen to Pedro Martinez. But you know what? John Farrell needs to listen to Eck and Pedro as well.
Yes, Farrell did say that the issue will be addressed, yet he couldn’t help being all chamber-of-commercy during his pregame media chat when he said: “David Price is one hell of a teammate. He’s a very strong competitor, the support he gives his teammates in that clubhouse and in that dugout is outstanding. And it’s returned to him.
“I think he genuinely appreciates competing with the Red Sox, the city of Boston, and going out and working with his teammates to compete and win a championship.”
That’s a swell TV commercial. But Farrell needs to offer more than pregame lip service. He needs to step in and do something — not to soothe the bruised feelings of a bunch of sportswriters, but to educate the lefty about the cold, hard realities of being a professional athlete in Boston.
Boston’s not going anywhere. But if Price doesn’t figure out how to make this work, he’s the one that’ll have to go.