David Price to start the year in the minors

[TyCobb]

Price has no change up he can throw in games right now, and made a comment last week that he has been working so hard to develop one his slider has disappeared. The Rays told him last year that they do not want him starting until he has 3 useable pitches. Right now he has 1.

Could he be effective in the 8th inning role like he was last year relying heavily on his FB and the slider, assuming he gets it back? Of course. But the Rays believe that they would rather have him in AAA developing to become an ace starter instead of using him as a reliever right now.

SG as for the tight race thing... No question Price is the best talent among Price, Niemann and Hammels. But you just can't stay that he is the best starting pitcher of the three of them right now. For them to go with anyone other than the best starting pitcher, given how even these teams are, would be crazy.

This seems like a good reason for Price to stay in the minors. Too bad Matusz already has all 3 pitches and still is going to the minors.

[TGO]

Doing it in a fashion where you attempt to talk about baseball is fine.

Doing it the way you did just cries out for attention.

I don't see what was wrong with his original post. Yes, we second guess decisions made by front offices all the time. It's what we do. But in most cases it's our own front office and we know a lot about the situation. We never know as much about it as the front office, but we may know most of it.

Let me ask you this: have you watched David Price at spring training? Have you seen the problems GeorgiaBird described or even read about them? My guess is you have not, but please tell me if I'm wrong. No, my guess is you simply assumed this decision is being made for financial reasons. If that were the case, I would agree with you. But it's pretty clear you made an incorrect assumption and the other poster was correct: it takes someone pretty narcissistic to dismiss someone else's decision as flat out stupid without having access to even half of the information that the decision maker had.

[Sports Guy]

I don't see what was wrong with his original post. Yes, we second guess decisions made by front offices all the time. It's what we do. But in most cases it's our own front office and we know a lot about the situation. We never know as much about it as the front office, but we may know most of it.

Let me ask you this: have you watched David Price at spring training? Have you seen the problems GeorgiaBird described or even read about them? My guess is you have not, but please tell me if I'm wrong. No, my guess is you simply assumed this decision is being made for financial reasons. If that were the case, I would agree with you. But it's pretty clear you made an incorrect assumption and the other poster was correct: it takes someone pretty narcissistic to dismiss someone else's decision as flat out stupid without having access to even half of the information that the decision maker had.

End of the day, I would bet that Price gives them a better chance to win right now.

What GABird mentioned has validity but it goes back to the idea of do we need these guys to be perfect?

What is another 5 or 6 MiL starts going to do? Is his changeup all of a sudden going to be very good after 30 or so innings? He has all this stuff to work on yet you allow him to throw some of the biggest innings in the history of your franchise in a season where he has barely thrown a ML pitch and I am supposed to believe that he has stuff to work on to the point where he shouldn't make the team?

I don't buy that for a second.

As for me stating my opinion, whether it agrees with a GM or not...I will continue to say and post what I want...You can either read it or ignore it..Either way, do you honestly think I care if you think it is right for me to agree or disagree with another human being?

[Crazysilver03]

This means opening day Norfolk/Durham, we will see Wieters vs. Price.

[RShack]

This means opening day Norfolk/Durham, we will see Wieters vs. Price.

Go take pictures of the two of them facing each other wearing AAA uniforms, because it might be the only time it ever happens and you'll have a collector's item.

[BaltimoreTerp]

A: If he's not going to pitch a full season this year (the TB target is 155 innings for him) then would you rather have those innings in April or October? Price can still work on getting better on command issues and he can be brought up as soon as things get rocky in the AL East.

Is that Major League innings or total innings?

Seems to me that he'll accumulate innings in Durham the same as anywhere.

[JTrea81]

Go take pictures of the two of them facing each other wearing AAA uniforms, because it might be the only time it ever happens and you'll have a collector's item.

That would be a cool picture, and the icing on the cake would be if you could get both of them to sign it...

[Fan of Newhan]

This means opening day Norfolk/Durham, we will see Wieters vs. Price.

That does sound like quite an image.

Unfortunately, I drafted both of those players for my fantasy team. So, I too might have to wait until late spring/early summer to start winning some games. For now, they'll be stashed away on my bench.

[DrLev]

The Rays optioned Price to their AAA affiliate. How many days of service does he technically have right now? Are they planning on pulling another Longoria?

[rhall]

The Rays optioned Price to their AAA affiliate. How many days of service does he technically have right now? Are they planning on pulling another Longoria?

If they keep him down long enough, they could delay his free agency, but they are saying that isn't why they've made this decision. They'd like Price to work on his changeup more, and they'd like to manage his workload so he doesn't have more than a 20% jump in innings from last year. Starting him in Triple-A was the easiest way to do that (they don't like the Joba method).

I'm sure the arbitration clock stuff doesn't hurt, but the stuff listed above, plus the fact that Price was competing with 2 other guys out of options and worthy of big league innings (Hammels & Neimann) and you can see why the Rays demoted Price.

Another highly touted prospect who might be getting demoted even though he looks ready now is Clay Buchholz. He's been pitching great - improved fastball command, which is a big reason for his struggles before. It's a numbers game. If Penny is healthy, he'll get that 5th spot. Unless they want to move Wakefield back to the pen, Buchholz will have to wait in Triple-A. I wish the O's had that problem

[isestrex]

Is that Major League innings or total innings?

Seems to me that he'll accumulate innings in Durham the same as anywhere.

From the article:

But probably the biggest reason Price is going to have to spend a few weeks in Durham is that always-controversial issue -- innings.

He worked 129 1/3 of those innings last season, counting the postseason. And the Rays want to limit their young pitchers to only about a 20 percent increase from year to year. So if we're calculating correctly, that means they would like him to top out at about 155 innings or so this year.

"So when would you rather have those innings?" Maddon asked. "In April or in October?"

Based on the direction of the logic, it would appear Maddon is referring to Major League innings not total innings. But the article is vague on that point.

[GeorgiaBird]

I'm not sure how you limit a pitcher's innings by having him in the starting rotation at AAA. The AAA season starts a few days after the ML season. I'm sure he'll be pitching 6 IP or so just about every time out after his first outing. Even if it were only 5 IP each time out, are they really cutting his innings down? I actually think the Joba method is not a bad one. If you really want to cut his workload start him in the pen and then later on start to stretch him out.

Your point is a good one. Two counterpoints just for the sake of argument...

1.) MiL innings will be, in general, easier innings because the talent level he will be facing will not be as high. He surely won't cruise every inning out, but over the course of a month he should be able to face fewer batters and less stress than he would facing major league hitting in April

2.) It might drive the fans in Durham nuts, but it is simply easier (more possible?) to take Price out after 5 IP in AAA even if he has given up say 1 R on 3 H just because of inning count than it would be in Tampa. If Price is in Tampa throwing a good game say vs. the Yanks how do you go to your pen in the 6th for the sake of long-term development?

At the end of the day while IP is certainly part of it, Price's development of secondary pitches is more of it. Coming out of spring training alone I am not even sure Price would be the first Durham starter to get the call... Wade Davis had a great spring.