Tampa Bay Puts Price on Layaway

Jayson Stark reported today that postseason rookie phenom David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays will likely begin the 2009 season in Triple A, prompting some questions. Stark begins by asking whose leg do you have to hump to get a dry martini around here what a guy has to do to make an MLB roster these days, noting that Price was USA Today’s 2008 Minor Leaguer of the Year, the guy who saved the game that propelled his team into the World Series last year, and the owner of a 1.08 ERA this spring, among other accolades. This is also the same guy who faced 24 hitters in last year’s postseason and allowed precisely two hits. He also owns an NLCS win in relief and the aforementioned save in the same series. So, needless to say, this guy has been seriously battle tested in his brief MLB career, and this decision obviously warrants some questions and concerns. My initial reaction was one of shock, but then I thought about it for a minute, and quickly shifted to the other side, wondering why this should even be questioned in the first place.

First, consider some pitchers in recent memory who have been asked to fill a starting role in their team’s rotation, seemingly too early, and then have had to battle injury problems for the rest of their career, or who had their career cut short because of overuse. In this blog post you’ll come to find that this list includes names like Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, and Dontrelle Willis, who all pitched over 100 innings in a starting pitching role in their first season in the bigs before age 22 and continue to have injury plagued careers. Ok, so granted, Price is 23 now, but the danger of taking on too many innings too soon still looms.

Once that sinks in, consider this: Price might not be ready. Factor in the small sample size; can anybody in the majors be gauged properly in a month? Not if the Chris Sheldons of the world have anything to say about it. It’s also important to consider the fact that not many big leaguers have seen Price, and once they see him a few times they will learn his “tells” and routines. It’s inevitable, and every pitcher goes through it. Many suffer the sophomore slump, and this is because of the detailed info gathered by scouts. That doesn’t mean Price won’t have a prolific career – if he adjusts properly and studies up on the scouting reports of batters provided to him, he will be just fine.

Finally, Price doesn’t have the luxury of being in a cupcake league like the NL West. Once he is inserted into the Rays’ rotation, he’ll be challenged around every corner by the likes of David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and so on. So it’s important not to bring him up to early and feed him to the wolves; if he gets lit up in several successive outings, it may affect his confidence and lead to head issues. If the Rays aren’t 100% convinced that Price is ready, then they’d be doing him a disservice by giving him a permanent role too soon.

The bottom line is that the Rays have a top notch rotation even without Price, so, for the time being, it isn’t necessary to call upon his services. If they were depleted by injury or were lacking a solid fifth starter, Price would certainly be the adrenaline injection they’d be looking for. However, that is not the case, and there are few things as disappointing as seeing a talented young ballplayer like Price robbed of his longevity because of poor decision-making in the front office. I’m willing to wait a little longer (he will undoubtedly be up at some point this season) to see his ability again at the pro level if it means I’d it will result in an illustrious, long-lived career.

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