A baffling battle
Price vs. media shocks our man
TORONTO — David Price was awfully good on Thursday, so the last thing I expected to write yesterday was another story about his frustration with the media.
But then came the tale of his run-in with Dennis Eckersley on the team flight to Toronto — first reported in the Globe — and here we are with another chapter in the storyline that just won’t go away.
I wish it would, and so do you. Price surely would like it to go away as well, and there’s no doubt the Red Sox are sick of it.
But according to the Globe, Price and Eckersley had a verbal confrontation on the team charter the very night that Price struck out seven in a win against the Twins. Eckersley is a part of the Red Sox’ NESN broadcast team, so he occasionally flies with the team.
He’s also a Hall of Fame pitcher, by the way, so whatever he might have said that ruffled feathers came with the weight of experience and understanding, and it presumably came with inherent respect.
Manager John Farrell acknowledged speaking to Price about the incident before last night’s game.
“We did,” Farrell said. “We did, and regarding the incident (Thursday) night, that’s being handled internally.”
Why should anyone else care about a Price vs. Eck showdown, beyond the gossip page juiciness of it all?
Because this is a part of the day-to-day experience playing for the Boston Red Sox. It doesn’t matter if it’s singling out CSN’s Evan Drellich in the Yankee Stadium clubhouse or getting into a shouting match with a Hall of Famer at 35,000 feet. It’s just unusual and unfortunate considering there are going to be reporters in the clubhouse again today, and there are going to be broadcasters on the flight again tomorrow.
Not one of those people came to Toronto wanting to write another Price vs. media story, but if you want to know what’s going on with this team … well, that’s certainly part of the story. Again.
I don’t think Price is necessarily a bad guy or a mean guy, but for whatever reason, he’s been unhappy with this part of the big league experience this season. I won’t suggest he can’t handle Boston or that he’s cracking under the pressure — I don’t see enough evidence to state either of those opinions with any confidence — but these are not unusual circumstances that have created such turbulence.
Price seems like a smart guy, he’s a good pitcher, and he’s an engaging personality when he wants to be. I suppose I’m more confused than anything.
Why is this happening to a guy who’s active in the caustic world of Twitter and picks himself apart after every lackluster start? Either he wants the fight, or he can’t help but fight, or he feels the fight is legitimately necessary to defend himself and those around him. Here’s an observation: This is my 15th year covering professional baseball, and I’ve never experienced a clubhouse with less player to-reporter banter. Reporters aren’t in there trying to make friends — reporters and players rarely get that close these days — but small talk is pretty typical in most locker rooms.
There’s respect between the two sides, and it’s pretty easy to get along. The relationship between players and media is admittedly a strange one, but if you do this long enough, it becomes familiar.
It’s surely familiar for Price, who’s in his 10th year and fourth organization.
This clubhouse is not filled with bad guys — quite the opposite, I’ve covered teams with more bad apples; and quite a few of the Red Sox players have shared parenting tips when it’s come up that I have a 3-monthold at home — but there’s a greater divide than I’m used to, and that divide seems to breed misunderstanding and distrust.
Maybe I’m reading the room wrong, but that’s the way it feels to me.
And that’s a shame, because the media isn’t going away.
Reporters and broadcasters are a reality of the major league experience. For very brief windows — one hour before the game, maybe 30 minutes postgame — we share the same ecosystem.
The clubhouse is the players’ space, and nearly every reporter recognizes and respects that — I assume the same is true for the team charter — but we all have to share it for a little while. That’s just the way it goes.
Media outlets want us there to do our jobs. Readers and listeners want us there to provide actual information. And the league wants us there to tell its stories.
Price doesn’t seem to want us there, which is fine. He’s certainly not the first high-profile athlete to feel that way. In fact, I bet a lot of professional athletes, if given the option, would just play the game and go home with no questions asked. But that’s not the reality. I’m not sure Price is being treated differently than anyone else. It just seems he’s been more bothered by it than anyone else.