David Price was mentioned in trade rumors early in the offseason and while many felt a deal to a team like the NY Yankees, Texas Rangers, LA Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles or Boston Red Sox would happen, the Tampa Bay Rays have hung onto their starter heading into spring training and that will mean many more rumors heading into and throughout 2014.
During the winter meetings in the offseason trade rumors really started getting attention for Price and the most mentioned teams at that time were the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Seattle Mariners, but none of those deals ever came close to happening. There was some talk that the Mariners would go hard after Price, but that came before and during the Robinson Cano deal and after that went through, Seattle balked at adding its top prospects in the deal and neither side came away satisfied.
The Rangers made a huge move for Prince Fielder this offseason and that may have factored into things, while the Rays felt that it would be unwise to allow Price to go for anything less than their asking price. The team now could use Price as a trade chip this season heading into the deadline and that could be greatly beneficial to them come late summer if the division race is tight.
Price is set to hit the market after next year and it's very likely that the Rays cannot afford to pay him what he should get as an All-Star and Cy Young pitcher, which means he probably will get traded at some point. The team has been through this many times before with Matt Garza, James Shields and other players and now it could be Price's turn to net a top prospect for the team like Wil Myers and Chris Archer. The pitcher is 28-years-old and players of Price's caliber do not usually get traded are not usually available and that could start a nice little bidding war for his services.
The Rays have a big decision to make and how next season plays out into the All-Star break will likely signal how they will act and the New York Yankees are looking much improved, while the Boston Red Sox won the World Series out of the AL East.
