David Price Exorcises His October Demons; Cooperstown Stock Rises

Postseason baseball is made for heroes and it’s also made for goats. David Price burst onto the scene in 2008 as a 23-year old rookie with the Tampa Bay Rays and became a hero out of the bullpen, helping his team to the pennant.

In the years since, Price has been one of baseball’s biggest goats, the great regular season starter with a litany of failure in October.

In a game that gives its stars opportunities for redemption, David Price made the most of his with the Boston Red Sox in 2018. Postseason history has multiple examples of star players who followed up failure with success. Price has to be near the top of that list.

In seven different seasons from 2010-2017, Price pitched for a team that made it to the American League Division Series (ALDS). Six times his teams failed to reach the League Championship Series (ALCS). None of those teams advanced to the World Series. In almost every one of those seasons, Price’s pitching contributed to his teams’ failures.

Today Price announced that he was declining to exercise the opt-out clause in the 7-year contract he signed three years ago with the Boston Red Sox. Now that he has won his first World Series ring, he’s committed to remaining with the team with which he earned it for at least another four campaigns.

(cover photo: Associated Press/David J. Phillip)

Flipping the Script in 2018

The 2018 postseason started, for David Price, just as it did in prior years. In Game 2 of the ALDS against the New York Yankees, at Fenway Park, the 6’5″ left-hander didn’t even finish the 2nd inning, giving up 3 runs in 1.2 innings in a 6-2 loss. The team prevailed in the other three contests, however, advancing to the ALCS.

Price’s struggles continued in Game 2 of the ALCS at Fenway. Although the Red Sox scored 5 runs in the first three innings, Price couldn’t get to the end of the 5th, having given up 4 runs, 5 hits and 5 walks in 4.2 innings of work. Again, the Sox won the game.

In Game 4, the Red Sox were hanging on by a thread. Closer Craig Kimbrel, in the midst of a pitch-tipping slump, was trying to gut out his first-ever six-out save. As Kimbrel loaded the bases in the 9th inning, Sox manager Alex Cora had Price warming up in the bullpen for a possible bailout or extra innings outing.

Thanks to a brilliant catch by left fielder Andrew Benintendi, Kimbrel held on for the save; Price wasn’t needed. While warming up, however, Price found something in his delivery that enabled him to created greater deception with his pitches. It was an “ah-hah” moment.

With top starter Chris Sale less than 100% due to a viral infection that had hospitalized him earlier in the week, Cora asked Price to start Game 5 at Minute Maid Park. This was only the second time in his entire career (regular season or postseason) that Price had been asked to start a game on 3 days of rest.

With the opportunity to close out the series, Price was matched up against one of the greatest postseason starters of the last decade, Houston’s Justin Verlander.

This seemed like the ultimate October mismatch. As a postseason starter, Price’s record was 0-10 with a 6.16 ERA in 11 starts.

Verlander, as an October starter, owned a 13-6 record with a 3.08 ERA. That record included a 4-1 mark with a 0.83 ERA in five previous starts in which his team faced elimination.

Price flipped the script. Armed with his mechanical alteration and a much heavier usage of his changeup, the Red Sox lefty pitched brilliantly, outpointing the Astros’ ace.

Price tossed 6 innings of scoreless ball, giving up just 3 hits with 9 strikeouts and no walks. His teammates scored 4 runs off Verlander and the Sox won 4-1, advancing to team’s first World Series appearance since 2013 and giving Price his first opportunity to participate in the Fall Classic.

In one fell swoop, Price had his first pennant and his first win as a postseason starter.

World Series Champion David Price

In the World Series, Game 1 featured a marquee matchup between Sale and the future Hall of Famer on the Los Angeles Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw. This confrontation featured arguably the best pitcher in each league for the previous 7 years. Neither team’s offense seemed to care; both pitchers were gone before finishing 5 innings. The Sox prevailed 8-4 to take the series lead.

In Game 2, it was Price’s turn to make his Fall Classic debut. He turned in another superior performance, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings. The Sox won 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series.

Just two days later, fully embracing and volunteering for Cora’s “all hands on deck” approach to postseason bullpen management, Price was summoned to start the 9th inning of Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.

Coming into the game with a 1-1 tie, Price pitched to three batters, giving up a single and a walk but negating the single (by Cody Bellinger) by picking him off first base. The Dodgers prevailed 3-2 in the longest ever World Series game, one that lasted 18 innings.

The Red Sox won 9-6 in Game 4, setting up Sale to go for the clincher in Game 5 on Sunday. Cora shocked the world, however, at the end of his press conference, when he announced that Price would instead start the game.

The reasons for the switch remain murky but to Price, it didn’t matter. He was ready to roll, this time just two days after his relief appearance. Even Price’s one day of “rest” wasn’t all that restful. Twice during Game 4 Price warmed up in the bullpen for the possibility of being summoned into the game.

Anyway, the Game 5 matchup of Price and Kershaw featured two of the best hurlers of the previous decade, each of whom had a litany of failure in October.

As it turned out, it was Price who fully exorcised his postseason demons. He pitched 7 full innings (plus one batter in the 8th), giving up just 1 run on 3 hits. The Sox tagged the Dodgers’ ace left-hander for four runs and went on to win 5-1.

Early in the 2018 postseason, after two mediocre starts, more than one commentator suggested that it might be better for Price to pitch out of the bullpen exclusively. He had done well in that role in the 2017 ALDS.

Cora didn’t agree. He stuck with his guy. Price, who started 11 games over 9 years without ever winning a game, finished the 2018 postseason by winning 3 in a row. He won the clincher of both the ALCS and the World Series with a Game 2 World Series win sandwiched in between.

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In the post-game commentary on Fox Sports 1 (FS1), Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, gushing over David Price, referred to him as possibly a “future first ballot Hall of Famer.”

The Big Hurt’s prediction might be a bit of a stretch but the 33-year old Price has already accomplished enough that a future plaque in Cooperstown is worth a discussion.

Cooperstown Cred: David Price

• Career: 143-75 (.656 WL%), 3.34 ERA
• Career: 124 park-adjusted ERA+, 38.2 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
• 5-time A.L. All-Star
• Won 2012 Cy Young Award: 20-5, 2.56 ERA, 205 SO
• Two other Cy Young runner-up finishes (2010 & 2015)
• Member of 2018 World Champion Boston Red Sox (2-0, 1.98 ERA)

In this piece, I’ll offer a brief recap of the career of David Price and assess what he’ll need to accomplish in the balance of his career to have a chance at the Hall of Fame.

David Price Career Highlights

David Taylor Price was born on August 26, 1985 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He went to college in nearby Nashville at Vanderbilt University. After his great career in the SEC, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made Price the #1 overall pick in the 2007 June Amateur Draft.

After just 109.2 minor league innings in 2008, Price made his major league debut on September 14th. The Rays, having removed the “Devil” from their team name, were in their first pennant race in franchise history and won the A.L. East by two games over the Boston Red Sox.

Both teams advanced to the ALCS and the 6’5″ rookie left-hander became instantly famous for his role in helping the Rays to the pennant. In Game 2, Price got the final two outs in the top of the 11th inning and was the winning pitcher when the Rays scored in the bottom of the frame.

In the win-or-go-home Game 7 at Tropicana Field, the Rays were clinging to a 3-1 lead in the top of the 8th inning with two outs and the bases loaded. Rays manager Joe Maddon entrusted his rookie pitcher to get the big out and Price delivered, striking out J.D. Drew to end the threat. Price returned to toss a scoreless 9th to save the game and send the Rays to the World Series.

The rookie, who would endure unending pain in future postseasons for nearly a decade, began his October career as a winner. Even though the Rays fell to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, a star was born in Tampa.

Ace Starter in Tampa

After debuting as a relief pitcher in 2008, David Price settled into the Rays’ rotation in 2009. In the next eight seasons, Price would start 247 regular season games with only one relief appearance.

After a lackluster rookie campaign, Price emerged as an ace starter in 2010, going 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA. Price made his first All-Star team and was 2nd in the Cy Young voting to Felix Hernandez. The young lefty went 4-0 with a 1.64 ERA in September to help the Rays edge the New York Yankees by one game to win the A.L. East.

Price’s postseason woes began in 2010. The Rays lost the ALDS to the Texas Rangers in 5 games, with Price starting (and losing) the first and final games (with 8 runs allowed in 14.2 innings).

2011 was a mediocre campaign for Price (12-13, 3.49 ERA); he lost his only start in the ALDS (again to Texas).

The Rays missed the playoffs in 2012 but Price had the best season of his career, winning the A.L. Cy Young Award with a 20-5 record and a league-leading 2.56 ERA.

Price had an average campaign in 2013 (10-8, 3.33 ERA) but put the Rays back into the October party by exacting his revenge on the Rangers in the 163rd game of the regular season. This was a Wild Card tiebreaker game; Price pitched a complete game, winning by a 5-2 score.

That good form did not continue into the playoffs. In Game 2 of the ALDS, Price was shelled for 7 runs in 7+ innings at Fenway Park, giving up two home runs to David Ortiz in the process.

David Price Traded Twice in Two Years

In 2014, the Rays were out of contention fairly early so the team decided to trade its homegrown star to the Detroit Tigers to maximize the potential return with free agency pending after 2015.

Between Tampa and Detroit, Price led the majors in innings pitched (248.1) and strikeouts (271). He would finish 6th in the Cy Young voting.

In Detroit, he joined a super rotation that included Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Unexpectedly, the Baltimore Orioles beat all three aces in a 3-game ALDS sweep. Price was the starter and loser of Game 3 although he pitched very well, giving up just 2 runs in 8 innings.

The following summer, the Tigers found themselves out of contention. Scherzer was gone and Verlander was injury-limited so General Manager David Dombrowski dealt the free-agent-to-be to the Toronto Blue Jays. Price was instrumental in leading the Jays to the A.L. East crown, going 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 11 starts.

Overall, for the season, Price was 18-5 with a league-leading 2.45 ERA, good enough for another runner-up Cy Young finish (to Houston’s Dallas Keuchel).

October was disappointing again for David Price; he posted a 6.17 ERA in 4 appearances. The Jays won the ALDS but lost to the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS in 6 games.

Breaking the Bank in Boston

Despite a lackluster postseason resume, David Price was one of the most coveted free agents on the market in the 2015-16 off-season. Dombrowski, now with the Red Sox, signed Price to a 7-year, $217 million deal. Until the last couple of weeks, most Red Sox fans would have called the deal a bust for Boston.

Price pitched respectably in 2016, going 17-9 with a 3.99 ERA. Again, though, he bombed in October, giving up 5 runs in 3.1 innings against the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS.

After injuries limited Price to just 74.2 innings in 2017, fueling the ire of the disappointed and demanding Red Sox nation.

In 2018, Price got off to a great start, tossing 7 innings of scoreless ball in his first two starts. The rest of the first half was mediocre at best; he posted a 5.15 ERA in 16 starts.

In his first 10 starts after the All-Star break, the Sox tall left-hander went on a run that would foreshadow his October performance. In those 10 starts, Price was 9-1 with a 1.82 ERA.

Price’s last two regular season starts and first two postseason starts were rather pedestrian but, as we’ve seen, Price started to rewrite his October legacy when he started Game 5 of the ALCS. In the span of just 11 days, Price completely flipped the script after 9 years of postseason disappointment.

With 3 wins and a 1.37 ERA in his final 4 postseason outings (including the two clinchers), David Price has gone from being an October loser to a big-time winner and a legitimate future candidate for the Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown Progress for David Price

Based on what he has accomplished so far in his career, David Price is not a Hall of Famer so I’m not going to make a case for him here. What this section will do, however, is show how his accomplishments measure up with other pitchers at similar stages in their careers.

First things first: how does Price compare to his peers who are still active and began their careers in the 21st century:

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Nipping at the heels of these 10 hurlers are Corey Kluber (32 years old, 33.6 WAR) and Madison Bumgarner (29 years old, 29.9 WAR).

Any of the 10 pitchers listed on the chart (plus Kluber and Bumgarner) could be potential Hall of Famers in the future. To most observers, Clayton Kershaw is considered a lock, Verlander very likely. Scherzer has an edge over most of the others by owning 3 Cy Young Award trophies. CC Sabathia‘s career is nearly over. He would fairly be described as a bubble candidate.

Anyway, if you’re a believer in WAR, Price is quite a bit behind 9 of his contemporaries.

Of course, Price didn’t make his MLB debut until 2008 and his official rookie campaign was in 2009. So let’s look at how Price ranks in various statistical categories among the 36 hurlers who logged at least 1,250 innings over the past 10 seasons:

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The same names seem to bubble to the top of all of these categories, eh? With the exception of Felix Hernandez, the names that appear on the leaderboard for more than one of these categories are still pitching well. Price suffers a bit due to his injury-plagued 2017 campaign (only 74.2 innings pitched) but that’s part of the record.

Even if you take his best seven-year stretch (from 2010-2016), Price ranks just 6th in WAR, 6th in ERA+, 5th in good old-fashioned ERA, 3rd in Wins, and 3rd in strikeouts.

This is good but not enough to make a “peak” case for the Hall of Fame.

On a season-by-season basis, Price only has 4 campaigns in which he earned Cy Young votes.

He has had only 2 seasons with a WAR of 5.0 or greater. 29 pitchers have 3 or more such seasons in the 21st century.

What David Price Needs to Do

So, it’s fairly obvious that David Price has a lot of work to do. In 2018, he went 16-7 with a 3.58 ERA. This was good for a 4.4 WAR and 122 ERA+. These are solid numbers but they don’t blow you away.

In the second half of the season, of course, Price was superb, going 6-1 with a 2.25 ERA. And, obviously, there are his final three starts in October.

Anyway, since Price doesn’t have a compelling “peak” case for the Hall, his best chance is to compile an impressive career resume. He’s 33 years old right now but the Hall is filled with pitchers who excelled until their late 30’s. Price will have to be one of those guys.

Let’s suppose that the Sox left-hander is able to duplicate his 2018 campaign for the next five seasons, taking him through his “age 37 season.” If that were to happen, after the 2023 campaign, Price’s career numbers would be…

• 223-110 (.670 WL%), 3.36 ERA, 2,738 strikeouts, 60.2 WAR

Those numbers look good. If the standards of today’s pitchers were the same as the hurlers from the first half of the 20th century, those statistics might be good enough for Cooperstown. With today’s stingier standards, he would probably be a little shy of the Hall.

Of course, it’s important to remember that it’s a tall order for any pitcher to duplicate his “age 32 season” for another 5 in a row. It’s pretty clear to me that Price is going to have to either exceed his 2018 performance or continue to pitch at a high level until he’s 40 years old.

Historical Comparables

David Price, who turned 33 on August 26th, has completed what Baseball Reference lists as his age 32 season (a player’s “age” season defined as their age at midnight of June 30th).

Let’s take a look at some existing Hall of Famers by taking a look at their statistics through their respective age 32 seasons. We can then take a look at how Price fares in comparison at this stage of his career.

I’m going to focus specifically on a handful starting pitchers who began their careers in 1950 or later and logged fewer than 2,500 innings through their age 32 seasons.

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On this list, Tom Glavine, Gaylord Perry, and Randy Johnson all won over 300 games by pitching well into their early 40’s.

The closest comparison (for Price) is the late Jim Bunning, who was denied the Hall after 15 years on the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) ballot but inducted by the Veterans Committee shortly thereafter.

Take a look at Bunning’s final numbers compared to the projection we shared above if Price were to duplicate his 2018 campaign for five more years.

• Jim Bunning: 224-184 (.549 WL%), 3.27 ERA, 2,855 strikeouts, 60.5 WAR
• David Price (projection): 223-110 (.670 WL%), 3.36 ERA, 2,738 strikeouts, 60.2 WAR

Of course, this is just a projection, one that assumes five duplicate seasons but also one that stops at Price’s age 37 season.

Factors in Favor for David Price and the Hall of Fame

Here are four factors that augur in favor of an eventual Cooperstown plaque for David Price.

First, barring an unexpected trade, Price will spend the next four seasons pitching for the Boston Red Sox. That’s a factor that will likely boost his career win total (to the degree that will matter in the future) and also increases the odds that he can continue to rewrite his postseason narrative.

Next, as Ken Rosenthal reported in The Athletic, Price is a bit of a medical freak. Renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews told Price that he has an elbow that actually heals itself, forming bone on the ligament that stabilizes the joint. This genetic gift (one that Nolan Ryan had has well) increases the odds that he can finish his career without losing a year to Tommy John surgery.

Another factor in favor is that the Vanderbilt educated Price is a cerebral pitcher. His 2018 fastball velocity of 93 MPH is three ticks slower than the 96 MPH he showed during his prime years in Tampa. Price is a good candidate to continue to adjust as he ages.

David Price the Teammate

Finally, Price has a well-earned reputation of being a great teammate. I was struck, when watching the post-game coverage after Game 5 of the World Series, when MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa commented on the respect Price commanded from his fellow players. DeRosa mentioned that he texted multiple players who all (“to a man”) said that Price was the best teammate they ever had.

A neat story from Rosenthal’s piece, about how Price consoled Nathan Eovaldi after the team’s heartbreaking 18-inning loss in Game 3. Eovaldi, you might recall, heroically pitched 6 innings of one-run ball before giving up a lead-off walk-off home run to Max Muncy in the bottom of the 18th:

Cora recalled that as Eovaldi had walked off the field following Muncy’s homer, his heroic relief outing ending in crushing disappointment, Price was the first player waiting for him outside the dugout… Eovaldi later would joke, “He followed me everywhere,” and Price indeed stayed by his teammate’s side for the rest of the night. To Cora, it was an extraordinary gesture of empathy, an example of why Price is beloved in the Red Sox’s clubhouse. 

— Ken Rosenthal (in The Athletic, Oct. 29, 2018)

“He’s very caring, so supportive. He’s just an unbelievable human.”

— Nathan Eovaldi (reported in The New York Times, Oct. 29, 2018)

Baseball can be brutal to aging veterans who are often cast aside for younger and cheaper players. A quality teammate such as Price who can double as a second pitching coach and mentor can prolong his career (and build counting stats) even if he’s no longer at his best.

Also, if Price ends up with a career that falls just short of the BBWAA standards for the Hall of Fame, his “good guy” and selfless “team first” reputation will play well when considered by a smaller voting body (the Veterans Committee) that contains fellow players.

Factors Against David Price and the Hall of Fame

This part is kind of obvious. First of all, he still has to keep pitching well for a long time. Most pitchers decline as they get older. The ones who make the Hall of Fame either keep pitching at a high level into their late 30’s or had an early career of such brilliance that pedestrian late-inning numbers are rendered irrelevant.

As we saw earlier, David Price is lagging behind many of his contemporaries in multiple statistical categories.

Price was born in 1985. If you just take the starting pitchers who were born between 1983 and 1987 (two years prior and since), it’s an impressive list of hurlers.

Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, Johnny Cueto and Corey Kluber were all born during that 5-year period. Not all of these pitchers are going to make it into the Hall of Fame. Inevitably, they will be compared against each other.

Earlier in this piece, I showed a graphic that highlighted the statistics of several Hall of Fame pitchers through their age 32 seasons that were similar to Price’s. What I did not share is the even longer list of pitchers who are NOT in the Hall of Fame who had similar numbers at this stage in their careers.

Using Price’s Career WAR as a Baseline

David Price’s career WAR is 38.2. Here’s a partial list of retired pitchers (who debuted after 1950) who had a WAR of 38.2 or better through their age 32 seasons who are not in the Hall of Fame:

Dave Stieb, Bret Saberhagen, Johan Santana, Rick Reuschel, Kevin Appier, Roy Oswalt, Mark Buehrle, Wilbur Wood, Frank Tanana, Dwight Gooden, Mark Langston, Vida Blue, Brad Radke, Tim Hudson, Frank Viola, Sam McDowell, Steve Rogers, David Cone, Bob Friend, Javier Vasquez, Mel Stottlemyre, Mickey Lolich, Milt Pappas, Jon Matlack, Bob Welch, Luis Tiant and Carlos Zambrano.

Also on this list: Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina and Roy Halladay. Clemens is outside the Hall for PED links. Mussina and Halladay will likely make it in the next two years.

There are only 6 Hall of Famers who debuted since 1950 who posted a WAR of less than Price’s 38.2 through his age 32 season: Catfish Hunter, Gaylord Perry, Jack Morris, Jim Bunning, Whitey Ford and Randy Johnson.

If we exclude Clemens, Mussina and Halladay, that leaves 27 non-Cooperstown-enshrined starters with a superior WAR and just 6 Hall of Famers with an inferior WAR based on the age 32 season parameters.

WAR is a rough estimation and is categorically not the statistic that should solely determine a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness, but it’s a useful barometer to compare a player’s progress towards a plaque compared to those who preceded him.

Using Price’s  Career ERA+ as a Baseline

Price’s career WAR is slightly depressed because of superior defensive teams that have played behind him for most of his career. A more favorable number is his career ERA of 3.25 (which translates to a 124 ERA+ when adjusting for park effects and the overall league averages during his years on the mound).

Price has thrown 1,922.1 innings in his career. If we use the same standards (players debuting after 1950), there are only 11 retired players with a ERA+ of 124 or above and at least 1,800 innings pitched through their age 32 seasons who are not in the Hall of Fame:

Clemens, Halladay, Mussina, Santana, Oswalt, Hudson, Saberhagen, Stieb, Wood, Appier and Cone.

Again, if we exclude Clemens, Halladay, and Mussina, that leaves only 8.

In the meantime, here is the list of pitchers (debuting after 1950) who are in the Hall of Fame who had an ERA+ of less than the 124 (through their age 32 seasons):

Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Don Drysdale, Steve Carlton, Fergie Jenkins, Perry, Bunning, Morris, Dennis Eckersley, Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton and Hunter.

That’s a total of 12.

Who Has Matched Price’s Record?

Finally, there is this. How many pitchers (active or retired) have exceeded Price’s 124 ERA+ and 143 wins through their age 32 seasons and not eventually made it into the Hall of Fame?

For this one, I’m going to take it all the way back to 1919. Here’s the list (ranked by wins):

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That’s a list of just 10 pitchers. Clemens is a case unto himself. Mussina, Halladay and Kershaw are certain Hall of Famers (in mine and most analysts’ minds). That leaves Billy Pierce, Oswalt, Tim Hudson, Jon Lester and Price.

Pierce finished his career with a 211-169 (.555) record with a 3.27 ERA (119 ERA+). A seven-time All-Star, he was a forgotten great from the 1950’s and ’60’s.

Along with Halladay, Oswalt is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2019. A great big game pitcher, Oswalt only managed to pitch 230.1 innings after his age 32 season, giving him a career too short for the Hall. He finished 163-102 (.615) with a 3.36 ERA (127 ERA+).

Hudson finished his career with a 222-133 (.625) record with a 3.49 ERA (120 ERA+) and a 56.9 WAR. He’ll be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2021; I haven’t seen one writer who is stumping for Hudson for a Cooperstown plaque.

Lester, a former star lefty for the Red Sox and key contributor to two titles in Boston along with one in Chicago, has a Cooperstown prognosis similar to Price’s, except that he’s a little further along.

Lester will turn 35 in January. At 177-98 (.644) with a 3.50 ERA (122 ERA+), he still has to log a few more effective campaigns to make himself a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate.

Conclusion

At the start of the season, I wrote a series of pieces analyzing the Hall of Fame chances of the players in each of the six MLB divisions. When it came time to look at the candidates of the A.L. East, I gave Price unscientific odds of 20% of reaching the Hall, drawing this conclusion:

It’s hard to believe but Price will turn 33 years old this summer. If he’s going to be a legitimate candidate for the Hall in the future, he’s going to need to author three more Cooperstown-caliber seasons and pitch well late into his 30’s. Right now he doesn’t look like a Hall of Famer in the making.

PS — it doesn’t help that Price has a miserable postseason reputation. The bad rep is deserved: he’s 2-8 with a 5.03 ERA in 17 October appearances. If he becomes a more viable Cooperstown candidate in the next few years by delivering high quality campaigns in Boston, it will help him immensely if he has some big postseason games.

— Cooperstown Cred (March 29, 2018)

Well, there’s no doubt that David Price’s performance in his final three postseason starts has helped his reputation immensely. He has exorcised the ghosts of past postseasons.

When Price’s career comes to an end, the voting members of the BBWAA can look at his entire career without the “but what about the postseason” caveat entering the equation.

Frank Thomas’ enthusiastic projection of Price as a “future first ballot Hall of Famer” remains overly optimistic but the chances that Price might eventually earn a Cooperstown plaque have risen significantly.

Most Hall of Famers are not first ballot selections. Most are borderline candidates. Unless he wins multiple championships and pitches at a high level up to his 40th birthday, the most likely outcome is that Price will be a borderline candidate. When that time comes, the terms “winner” and “great teammate” will help immensely.

The images of a player’s career that sear into our brains will be a big asset for World Champion David Price.

Thanks for reading. Please follow Cooperstown Cred on Twitter @cooperstowncred.