Quote:
Originally Posted by JayP
Then you clearly don't understand the influence the players associations have on players. Price isn't negotiating in a vacuum. His contract sets the bar for future contracts to top tier pitching free agents, which has a trickle down effect to everything from other pitching free agent contracts to arbitration hearings. It's ignorant to just say "Price can do what he wants". Players have very tight knit bonds and David Price leaving the money on the table can have a major effect on the rest of those guys. If you don't think the MLBPA is in his ear telling him that then you're a fool.
That's a range of $120mil to $175mil - so clearly you haven't thought this through. One is almost half of what he ended up getting and one is probably a realistic first offer that Price's camp would listen to. Either way, the $175mil is $42 million less than Boston's winning offer (and, again, not necessarily their ceiling) so it's getting tossed in the trash. Do you not realize that the Jays could have discussed the initial offers from the Red Sox ($200mil) and Cardinals ($190mil) with Price's Camp and just bowed out because their ceiling wasn't even close to those?
When you go shopping for a new car, do you take a swing by the Ferrari dealership and offer them $100k for a $200k car just to see what happens? If you know the response to your offer going in, what's the point of making one in the first place?
Seems like such a ridiculous thing to get worked up about - making an offer that you know in hindsight was just going to get rejected.
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How do we know that the sales tag on Price would have gotten to the ridiculous Boston number if AA had have been allowed to make an offer to Price back in early November? I'm sure the guy was going to get 25-30 M a year regardless, but the extra years Boston tacked on to entice him to sign there may not have been necessary if a deal has been negotiated. It was reported a week before he signed that Boston wasn't one of his first choices.
The fact of the matter is, Price wanted to be back in Toronto and Toronto had a exclusive window to come to a agreement with him before silly season started. The fact that they didn't even discuss anything with his agent is pretty brutal and damning towards the way Jays management/ownership operate.