The offseason acquisition of Chris Sale probably made life a little easier for David Price. It’s fair to assume it took some pressure off the 2007 No. 1 pick, who signed a historic contract with the Boston Red Sox last season.
It’s hard to imagine the love Sale has gotten so far doesn’t bother Price, though.
Instead of greeting the left-handed star with the same unreasonable doubt and relentless uncertainty Price was treated to last season, Sale has been welcomed by Boston fans with unbridled optimism and somewhat uncharacteristic enthusiasm.
Is there an offseason deal in the last few years as big as the blockbuster that brought the 28-year-old Sale to Boston? No, probably not.
Still, it seems unfair that Sale has been welcomed with open arms while Price had to endure so many unforgiving fans attacking him on every possible platform day after day.
One could argue that Price opens himself up to that type of criticism by responding on a regular basis to unreasonable and irate fans on Twitter. Sale doesn’t have that problem because he doesn’t have a Twitter account. And it doesn’t seem like the guy concerns himself with anything that isn’t directly related to winning baseball games.
Maybe that’s why he never cared to get a new pair of cleats once he was traded from the Chicago White Sox. Now wearing No. 41, Sale made his debut Wednesday night in black and white cleats that had the No. 49, his number in Chicago, written on the heel.
“I’m really more focused on the between-the-lines stuff,” Sale told reporters during a conference call in December once the trade had gone through. “That’s what I signed up for. … That’s what I live for, playing the game of baseball. Everything else, it’ll take care of itself.”
Price, on the other hand, doesn’t seem capable of letting everything else take care of itself. Since he arrived in Boston he has constantly concerned himself with an attempt to “make these fans like” him. Sale’s mad dash through Chicago’s clubhouse with a pair of scissors last season made one thing pretty clear: He doesn’t give a damn who likes him and who doesn’t.
Maybe it’s the money that drove most Red Sox fans crazy when Price struggled through his first season in Boston. The 31-year-old is the third-highest paid player in all of Major League Baseball; Sale ranks 100th on that same list.
He should be getting paid like Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, but his current contract is more comparable to Gio Gonzalez and Ricky Nolasco.
While Price is the proud owner of a deal that some would consider a rip-off (at least so far), Sale’s contract is one of the most team-friendly and affordable in the league, especially if he continues to pitch with utter dominance.
What some of Price’s biggest critics tend to forget, though, is that he won a Cy Young before his age-27 season, something Sale wasn’t able to do. Price is still the only single-season 20-game winner in Tampa Bay Rays history. Sale has never won 20 games in a season.
For what it’s worth, I don’t disagree with all of the criticism Price has heard since arriving in Boston. I think he should put down his cell phone and stop worrying about what people are saying on Twitter. He shouldn’t be reading blogs or columns like this one, claiming that he has slightly underperformed. He shouldn’t respond to fans who whine about his postseason record or his massive contract.
Maybe Price just needs to worry about what happens between those white lines on the field and nothing more.
That’s what Sale does and everybody in Boston already loves him.
(Michelle Berthiaume can be reached at 369-3338, mberthiaume@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @MonitorMichelle.)