Red Sox Pay The Price

Following a second consecutive last place finish, the Red Sox were guaranteed to make a major move or three this off-season.  John Henry did not fire Ben Cherington and bring in Dave Dombrowski for the purpose of maintaining the status quo.

Dombrowski did not waste too much time in adding an impact player as the Red Sox have agreed to a 7-year contract with free agent starting pitcher David Price for $217-million.  That's $31-million per season for Price, the 2012 Cy Young winner, to be the ace of the Boston pitching staff for the remainder of the decade.

Henry's ownership team announced a little over a year ago that their philosophy was to not overpay for pitchers who had reached or passed the age of 30 - remember, that's why Jon Lester is now with the Cubs - but a poor pitching staff led the Red Sox back to the cellar in the A.L. East and now Price, who turned 30 back in August, has the biggest contract a pitcher has ever had in baseball history.

Price joins closer Craig Kimbrel, who was acquired in a trade from the Padres on November 13.

So, what's next for the Dombrowski regime?

Another starter would be nice but a rotation with Price at the top followed by Clay Buchholz, Eduardo Rodriguez, Rick Porcello, and Wade Miley is good enough, on paper, to start 2016.

I would expect a relief pitcher or two to add to the set-up tandem of Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa.

As for a big move, I do believe Hanley Ramirez will be shipped out with Henry eating at least 40% of the $66-million left on his deal.

Whatever Dombrowski does in the next few weeks to build the 2016 Red Sox, we can all sit back tonight and admire that the team went out and spent the money necessary to acquire a legitimate ace. Price is the type of pitcher who can carry a team to the playoffs and while his postseason career stats - 2-7 with  5.12 ERA - leave a lot to be desired, he should have several chances to turn that part of his story into a positive over the next seven years,