Rays prepared to move David Price "right now" if the right deal presents itself

[G-Snarls]

Onley - ESPN Insider

 

Only the Tampa Bay Rays know for sure what will be deemed acceptable for David Price, or when they'll be ready to say yes. But rival officials are monitoring the market in the way that meteorologists follow weather patterns, and they believe that the Rays are prepared to move the former Cy Young Award winner. As in, right now.

 

The Rays aren't actually close to trading Price, according to sources. But the climate is right, given Price's impending free agency after 2015 and Tampa Bay's shockingly poor play this season. The Rays' loss Monday pushed them to 12 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League East, and they are 10½ games behind in the race for the second wild card -- stunning, given the consistency of Tampa Bay's success in the past six seasons. From 2008 to 2013, the Rays averaged 91-plus wins per season, reaching the playoffs four times.

 

But the Rays would have to go 60-24 the rest of the season in order to achieve 91 wins, and given the loss of Matt Moore and the struggles of the rotation (19th in ERA), Evan Longoria, Wil Myers and others, there is little reason to believe Tampa Bay is poised for that kind of turnaround.

 

And now, Price is back to throwing the ball at a star-caliber: He has 43 strikeouts and four walks in 31S innings, with nine earned runs allowed. His velocity is climbing: In his first six starts, his average fastball velocity didn't reach 93 mph, but in five of his past eight starts, his average velocity has been 93.4 mph or higher. With Price healthy and pitching well, it makes sense for the Rays to move him while they can, rather than repeatedly absorbing the inherent risk of injury with each of his starts. The Cubs, for example, had intended to trade Matt Garza in summer 2012, but he was hurt before the July 31 deadline, and they had to wait another year to make a deal.

 

The expectation of rival officials is that sometime in the days ahead, some team is going to call Rays general manager Andrew Friedman with the right offer, with enough pitching included to fill Tampa Bay's organizational need. Casual fans tend to believe that Tampa Bay's strength is drafting and developing, but the Rays actually have done their best work in making trades.

 

Maybe it'll be the San Francisco Giants, who have good minor league pitching. Or the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have attractive trade targets in prospects such as shortstop Corey Seager and outfielder Joc Pederson. Maybe the St. Louis Cardinals, who just lost two starting pitchers to the disabled list and have a large menu of outfielder and pitching prospects to dangle.

 

The forecast of rival evaluators: The conditions are almost perfect for a David Price trade. Right now.

Edited June 24, 2014 by G-Snarls

[G-Snarls]

Sorry to make another thread. Gut feeling is he gets dealt well before the trade deadline.

[closetjaysfan]

I don't see the jays getting price. We don't seem to have the prospect depth that Tampa is looking for and we are in the same division.

[Jonzo]

It only makes sense. If someone gets him now, they get a few more starts out of him, as opposed to getting him at the deadline.

[Jimcanuck]

or TB knows something we don't

[G-Snarls]

It only makes sense. If someone gets him now, they get a few more starts out of him, as opposed to getting him at the deadline.

 

His value can only drop and their season is toast.

[G-Snarls]

This is where AA calls JP Riccardi for advice and JPR reminds him that a window like this might only come along once in his tenure as GM...