The Ultimate Weathervane - XXIX (Estimated)

Shank, who wasn't worried about David Price, then was worried about David Price, then wasn't worried about David Price, then was sorta, kinda worried about David Price, isn't currently worried about David Price:

This might sound strange coming from me, but I think folks around here have been too tough on David Price this season.

OK, let’s start with the acknowledgement that $217 million is a big bag of money and Price has not been the pitcher the Red Sox thought they were buying. He has not been Roger Clemens 1986, Pedro Martinez 1999-2000, or even Josh Beckett 2007.

He has not been the David Price of 2009-15. He has not been the 23-year-old flamethrower who came out of the bullpen to fan J.D. Drew with the bases loaded in Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS, effectively sending the Tampa Bay Rays to the World Series.

But Price has not been a meatball artist. He has not been an embarrassment. He has not been Matt Young, Jack Clark, or Carl Crawford.

Quit bullshitting us, Shank - we know you better than that! What former Red Sox player did you compare him to three months ago?

Not now. Price at this hour is in full Carl Crawford mode.

Tune in next week, when Shank switches back again like a bike rider going up L'Alpe d'Huez...

Off The David Price Bandwagon?

Unable to rag on the Boston Red Sox for their most recent performance, Shank throws us a changeup. He has shown a strange affinity for Red Sox pitcher David Price over the past three years. It appears the shine's been taken off of that show as of the past, um, couple of Fortnites!

NEW YORK — David Price gets the ball Sunday night in New York against the Yankees.

This should be good.

Assuming Price actually makes it to the mound, it’s the most pressure-packed regular-season start of Price’s tumultuous 2½-year stint in Boston. And he owes it all to himself. Price seems to enjoy putting a bull’s-eye on his own back — an odd trait for a guy who has demonstrated aversion to pressure-packed moments. For those who haven’t heard, the much-decorated, wildly-talented Price is 0-8 with a 5.74 ERA in nine postseason starts.

Skip forward to the most recent festivities:

Roll the tape back to April 11 when Price made his only start of the year against the Bombers. He took the ball on a 42-degree night at Fenway, gave up four runs in the first inning, then came out of the game due to numbness in his pitching hand. The Sox wound up losing, 10-7. Six days later, Price took his regular turn and beat the Angels.

Then came the first “big” series in New York and the beginning of Price’s 2018 foolishness (his 2017 follies crescendoed when he verbally ambushed Dennis Eckersley on a team charter, then refused to apologize). Price was slated to pitch the second game of the first trip to the Bronx in early May. The day before Price’s scheduled start, Alex Cora casually mentioned that Price had been sent back to Boston due to more numbness in his pitching hand.

A day later, Price was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and the Sox lost his start, 9-6. This was the day we learned that Price loves playing the online video game “Fortnite” even more than he hates Boston. After a 48-hour news cycle of speculation and medical opinion regarding the possibility that Price was hurting because of his video-game addiction, the pitcher agreed to stop playing “Fortnite” in the clubhouse.

The casual observer might ask the question - has Shank been sincere in the many previous columns where he praised / practically slobbered over price, or has this all been part of a more elaborate scheme, designed to take the mother of all craps on the goofy southpaw when the time is right?

In the 3½ fortnights since then, Price is 7-1 with a 2.72 ERA in nine starts. He gave up only three runs in the one loss. He has been dominant. He has been the pitcher the Sox thought they were buying back in the fall of 2015.

Coinciding with this success, Price has invented a sarcastic/martyr persona, perfectly demonstrating his searing hatred for the Boston Baseball Experience.

Like he needs more of a reason than 'Dan Shaughnessy' to justify that hatred.

Culture Shock

Shank showed up in Ft. Myers, FL on Friday and runs into new Red Sox pitcher David Price:

FORT MYERS, Fla. — David Price was in a good mood Friday morning as he dressed in front of his locker for his first official workout with the Boston Red Sox. It was the first day on the job since he signed a seven-year, $217 million contract.

I wanted him to feel welcome. I wanted to make sure he didn’t believe all those nasty things his former Tampa Bay teammate Carl Crawford said about the Boston baseball experience. I wanted to tell him that Sox fans love him and that folks in the “carnivorous” Boston media are actually nice guys and gals.

“Don’t believe everything you hear,’’ I told him.

Especially anything coming out of Shank's mouth!

Note to David Price - this is why.

A few days ago, Shank was wondering whether, now as teammates. Price and David Ortiz would continue to hold a grudge about some name-calling between the two a few years ago. In this column, Shank does what Shank does - write about it again in order to keep it going:

David Ortiz is not in camp yet (position players are not required to report until Tuesday), so Price and Papi have not yet had a chance to kiss and make up after their public spat that played out over the last two years.

Price took exception when Ortiz pimped after a playoff homer at Fenway in 2013, and the episode was followed by two years of pointed remarks and one memorable purpose pitch when Price plunked Papi on the backside.

Price said Ortiz thinks he’s bigger than the game and Ortiz said he had no respect for Price and that the tall lefty was “a little girl.’’ They eventually resolved things over the phone, but have yet to connect as teammates.

“I’m done with that,’’ said Price. “I’m waiting for him to get here. I’m ready to get to know him.’’

If I were David Price, I'd recommend getting to know Shank as well, in the 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' kind of way.

Piling On David Price?

Piling on Tom Brady - perfectly fine - have at it!

Piling on David Price - how dare you?

NEW YORK — I know this sounds odd coming from me, but folks need to lay off David Price. If you are a Red Sox fan you should be rooting for this guy to succeed. And that doesn’t always seem to be the case. For multiple reason$$$ — maybe because Price talked and tweeted too much when he first got to Boston or because he’s never won a playoff start — piling on Price has become a parlor game in New England over the last 12 months and it makes no sense to me.

Price initially got crushed for taking the Red Sox’ $217 million.

I will not read any more of this column. Once I saw this sentence, it reminded me of the time Shank compared David Price to Carl Crawford. Shank will simply change his opinion on David Price whenever it suits him; he'll exhort the Red Sox to spend big bucks on guys like Price, Crawford, Sandoval, etc., then rip the Sox for spending that money on players for whom Shank will set sky-high expectations, then rip the players accordingly when they fail to meet those expectations.

You can go ahead and read the rest of it - I've had enough bullshit for today.

The One Where Shank Starts To Turn On David Price?

Shank's been pretty supportive of Red Sox pitcher David Price ever since the Sox signed him three and a half years ago. That appears to be changing.

Fellow Boston Globe baseball reporter Chad Finn is doing a story on former MLB ace and current NESN announcer Dennis Eckersley and the 2017 'feud' between Eckersley and Price has now become the focal point, at least for some people around here:

I mean David Price won a World Series here and Eck did not, so I guess the fans can rally around him now in this weird feud. Here he basically implies nobody likes Eck past or present, but he has lots of friends that will say nice things about him after he retires. Cool, I guess https://t.co/2RbtS4MD2q

— Matt Dolloff (@mattdolloff) July 17, 2019

I interviewed people for the story and didn't use anything they said because there was so much universal praise for him that it got redundant. Jim Rice loves him. Remy. Buddy Bell. He's a son to La Russa. Scott Sanderson, who recently passed away, loved him On and on ... https://t.co/HuyMbB8QCN

— Chad Finn (@GlobeChadFinn) July 17, 2019

Further, the MLB doc included interviews with ex-teammates Ron Darling, Bruce Hurst, Mark (And I'm Mark) McGwire, Ray Fosse, and Fred Lynn, among others. https://t.co/13Gx5VDl8G

— Chad Finn (@GlobeChadFinn) July 17, 2019

Naturally, Shank has to weigh in with a tweet that demonstrates a lack of self-awareness:

David Price thinks he holds the cards. Then why be such a jackass? https://t.co/vY7eeFsdDn

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) July 17, 2019

There are plenty of things that Shank's written about over the years that make him look like a jackass, so let's savor that irony for now. Further down the road, if the Red Sox can't land a playoff spot and Price winds up pitching poorly, expect Shank's criticism of Price to reach the point where he'll become the next Red Sox player to be run out of town by His Shankness.

UPDATE AT 5:40 PM - Sure looks like Shank's setting the table to eventually run David Price out of town when the time is right:

Just spoke with Bruce Cornblatt, sr. producer of MLB Eck Doc. Said, "I came away feeling Eck's teammates all loved him. We got 100 % cooperation from those we asked. Hurst, Fosse, Darling, McGwire, Lynn, Remy.We didn't ask many. By design. This was supposed to be Eck on Eck.''

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) July 17, 2019

Re-establishing that Price doesn’t know what he’s talking about https://t.co/H950NZa8RZ

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) July 17, 2019

Panic Button Disengaged? - II

Shank follows up his earlier Sunday tweets about David Price being made aware of a problem with his pitching mechanics:

NEW YORK — David Price says he’s got it all figured out. Dustin Pedroia went up to Price in the visitors’ clubhouse at Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon and showed Price a photo of his delivery from past seasons versus a photo of Price now. Price looked at the photos and noticed a difference in the positions of his arms and lift leg.

“It’s an easy fix,’’ the lefthander said.

He said he’ll work on the mechanical problem when he throws a bullpen session at Fenway Park before Monday night’s game against Oakland. Price is scheduled to start Thursday at home against the Astros and he’ll be trying to get back on track after seven uneven starts in which he’s blown four leads and compiled a staggering ERA of 6.75.

“I put myself in this situation,’’ Price said. “I can’t be upset about it. I’ve got to block all that stuff out. This has been, hands down, the worst I’ve thrown a baseball over a seven-game stretch. To me, it can only get better.

Further improvement would involve not talking to Shank.

Memo to David Price - if Shank was around sixty years ago, he would have tried to run Ted Williams out of town, as he did with Nomar Garciaparra, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester (double play!), Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens and David Ortiz (another double play!), Curt Schilling and seemingly countless others. His sole purpose(s) in life are to make you miserable, stab you in the back and fuck you over. Just ask Kirk Minihane. Don't give this S.O.B. an inch.

Panic Button Engaged

Shank on David Price, December 2, 2015:

Nitwits and analytic overthinkers will immediately fret about how the Sox will not be getting commensurate value three, four, or five years from now.

Who cares? Seriously. Why quarrel with what the Red Sox will be paying Price if he ultimately gets hurt or falters in the final years of this contract?

Shank on David Price, after yesterday's loss to the New York Yankees:

NEW YORK — OK, you are officially allowed to hit the panic button on David Price.

We were holding off before Saturday. Price was, after all, 4-0, and there just seemed to be a few bad innings here and there. His career body of work, his poise, and the notion that we were dealing with a small sample were ample reason to hold hysteria at bay.

Not now. Price at this hour is in full Carl Crawford mode.

Crawford, of course, was the wildly talented Tampa Bay Ray who tortured the Red Sox for multiple seasons, then came to Boston and melted into a puddle of fear, paranoia, and insecurity. A prominent member of the Sox management team observed, “When he played against us — we hated him. When he played for us — we hated him.’’

And now there is David Price, the 30-year-old southpaw who has dominated American League batters since he left Vanderbilt and smothered the Terry Francona Red Sox in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series in 2008.

It takes a special kind of asshole to hang the Carl Crawford tag on someone six weeks into his tenure with the Sox and to half-bury a pitcher with a 4 - 1 record.

...
Acknowledging that the season is still very young, the Sox must be a tad concerned about their investment.

So now you're concerned about the size of the contract? Typical Shank - kissing his ass when they signed him, wildly overreacting after his first loss as a member of the Red Sox.

DHL Dan LX - David Price Update, Etc.

I'm wondering why Shank is going out of his way to stay positive with his coverage of David Price. Normally this would be the stage in the relationship with the player when Shank's trashing him, just before the one or two 'run him out of town' columns.

Picked-up pieces while wondering how things will end for the 2017 Indians and Dodgers . . .

■ So now the Red Sox are paying David Price $217 million to be Heath Hembree?

The Sox activated Price Thursday, and manager John Farrell announced that the sour southpaw will work out of the bullpen for the rest of this year. I hate this.

I'd rather he not reinjure his elbow. Price in the bullpen will insure he won't be throwing 100 pitches in a given day. This is logical. How Shank thinks otherwise is baffling.

Perhaps it’s rational given Price’s recovery from elbow woes and his potential value as a lefthanded power arm out of the pen. But I still hate it because it’s letting Price off the hook too easily.

As much as it might be dangerous for the Sox, I wanted to see Price get the ball for a playoff start in 2017 (with double-barrel action in the Boston bullpen during the anthem). It’s my thirst for great sports theater.

That, and pints at The Fours.

He still hates the Red Sox, in case you're still wondering:

■ Kudos to the New York Post for placing an asterisk next to “Boston” in its daily American League standings. Below the standings, the asterisk denotes, “Caught stealing.’’

When the Sox got caught cheating, how come nobody made the connection to “Damn Yankees”? The name of the devil in the famed Faustian show/movie is “Applegate.’’

One of my favorite readers reminds us, “You can’t hold a whole baseball team responsible for the behavior of a few sick, perverted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole major league system . . . ?’’

Shank realizes the movie 'Animal House' is almost forty years old, right?

He still hates the Patriots:

■ Hate to rub it in, but the New York Football Giants will salute their 2007 Super Bowl champs when they play their home opener in the Meadowlands Monday night against the Lions. Eli Manning and Zak DeOssie are the only players left from that squad. David Tyree currently works for the Giants as director of player development.

...and Federal judge Richard Berman, of Deflategate 'fame':

■ When it comes to the Yankees, Judge Sonia Sotomayor makes Fanboy Richard Berman look neutral. The Supreme Court justice donned a robe and sat in the “Judge’s Chambers” in right field (named for Aaron Judge) when the Red Sox visited New York last month. She cheered madly for her Yankees.

But that's different!

Compare And Contrast

Shank, after David Price's first 2016 loss:

NEW YORK — OK, you are officially allowed to hit the panic button on David Price.

We were holding off before Saturday. Price was, after all, 4-0, and there just seemed to be a few bad innings here and there. His career body of work, his poise, and the notion that we were dealing with a small sample were ample reason to hold hysteria at bay.

Not now. Price at this hour is in full Carl Crawford mode.

Shank, after David Price's latest loss (video at link):

Dan Shaughnessy explains why he is not ready to start getting down on David Price just yet until he sees a full season of him struggling.

Shank seems like the kind of guy who has trouble deciding on what to order at a restaurant.

The Obligatory David Price Column

Shank continues to heap praise on the embattled pitcher, but that will change sometime this year.

All he is saying is give Price a chance

What never changes - lame and extremely dated song lyric references!

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Despite all the noise and nonsense — and even though I thought he lost his mind and his manners and blew up the Red Sox season last year — I am a big believer in David Price’s talent. I think he could be Boston’s best pitcher this year. I think he could have a Cy Young season. I think he could win back the fans.

Perhaps this demonstrates some character flaw, but I just can’t quit on Price. I thought Boston folks were too tough on him when he was characterized as a failure after winning 17 games and leading the majors in innings in 2016. I was still in Price’s camp early last summer, right up until he ambushed Dennis Eckersley on the team charter, creating a loser culture of tension and joylessness.

I'm not entirely sold on the above premise that Shank's fully self-aware. I'm also not entirely sold on this on again, off again fake love affair with Price. If and when it becomes news that Price is opting out of his contract later this year (I think it's going to be when, not if), Shank will turn on the afterburners and write two successive columns with the sole purpose of running David Price out of town. The only thing that will stop that from happening is his boss, John Henry, nixing the columns, which we're certain has already happened a number of times since Henry bought the Globe years ago.

Another David Price Column

Shank can't seem to get enough of David Price:

Is Price an overpaid, thin-skinned, prima donna ill-suited for Boston baseball? Or is he the Red Sox’ secret weapon destined to establish his value and earn fans’ love with a strong 2017 finish and (gulp) postseason glory? We’re pretty sure Price hates Boston, but could he yet emerge as a rich man’s John Lackey? Could Price wind up being a guy who delivers the goods even though he hates Boston with the power of a thousand suns?

Looks a lot like this column from last month, doesn't it?

Is David Price destined to become a Red Sox lefty hero on a par with Jon Lester, or an overpaid free agent flop like Jack Clark and Pablo Sandoval?

Price is a Fenway lightning rod in the spring of 2017. At this hour, the big questions around Price are:

■ Can he pitch in Boston?

■ Does he hate it here?

■ Will he exercise his option to leave Boston after the 2018 season?

■ Should he have taken less money to sign with the Cardinals?

■ Does he spend more time and energy on Twitter than Donald Trump?

Can't imagine why am athlete would hate playing in Boston with all this positive, supportive media coverage...

DHL Dan - LVII

You can tell it's summer when Shank starts mailing in columns every other week.

Picked-up pieces while waiting for Danny Ainge fireworks and wondering if Tom Brady and Kelly Olynyk are available for Gordon Hayward recruitment . . .

■ It’s disturbing to hear that David Price got into a verbal altercation with Dennis Eckersley on the Red Sox charter to Toronto after Thursday night’s win. This is a no-win venture for Price, who already has a bull’s-eye on his back because of his contract, his playoff failures, and his new layer of thin skin since coming to Boston. No Sox player is going to win a hissing contest with Eckersley, a Hall of Fame pitcher and the most refreshing color commentator in our market. Eck was a stand-up guy when he pitched and he’s been the same as an analyst. Boston fans love Eckersley. Price, who appears to be finding himself on the mound, increasingly looks like an unhappy camper who wants out of Boston. Not good. Price’s brief explanation of his confrontation with Eckersley was a true head-scratcher. When asked about the episode, Price told the Globe’s Nick Cafardo, “Some people just don’t understand how hard this game is.’’ What? Eckersley is the last guy you’d drop that on. Eckersley understands everything that can happen to a big league ballplayer. As a major leaguer, Eckersley survived career-threatening injuries, multiple trades, getting released, alcohol addiction, a brother in prison, and two failed marriages. He was part of the Red Sox’ collapse in 1978 and took every ounce of heat when he surrendered one of the most famous homers in history — the World Series walkoff by Kirk Gibson. With all that, Eck rightfully sailed into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The Sox are going to need David Price to get where they want to go this year. Now it looks like Price is being swallowed whole by the dreaded Boston Baseball Experience. Maybe he should have talked with his former teammate Carl Crawford before taking the money to play here.

It does look like the pressure exerted by local media on David Price finally caused him to crack. My only surprise is Shank's lack of participation in the whole thing.

DHL Dan LXX - Off The David Price Bandwagon?

Talk about speculation! We're nearly two whole weeks away from this matchup, but that doesn't prevent Shank from casting doubt about one particular game:

David Price has come up big but we need to see him vs. Yankees, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if Tom Brady will jump up on the couch — Tom Cruise style — when we see his interview with Oprah . . .

Give him credit - this is a 21st century pop culture reference!

■ Let the record show that the much-maligned David Price won the two biggest games of the Red Sox season thus far. After the Sox lost the first two games of a four-game series against the Houston Astros two weeks ago, Price stopped the bleeding, winning a duel against Justin Verlander. Thursday night, when we were beginning to think the Sox can only beat the Orioles, Price beat Felix Hernandez and the first-place Mariners, 2-1. He’s 6-0 with a 2.64 ERA in his last seven starts, and the Sox have won all seven games. He has not lost since the carpal tunnel syndrome nonsense in New York. The Sox next play the Yankees in New York the weekend of June 29-July 1. We need to see Price in that series. My math (such as it is! - ed.) has him lined up for the series finale. It will be unfortunate if the Sox maneuver things to keep Price away from the Yankees.

Second guessing before the game actually takes place - now that's trolling for you!

■ I loved the late Jerome Holtzman, but he contributed to the decay of modern baseball by inventing the “save.’’ It’s an overrated stat. It’s putting Trevor Hoffman in the Hall of Fame this summer and it has produced Craig Kimbrel, who is a different pitcher in save situations vs. non-save situations. With a three-run lead, a clean ninth inning, and a cast of Orioles and Rays coming to bat, Kimbrel is one of the best pitchers who ever lived. He strikes out more than half the hitters he faces. In non-save situations, it’s a different story. Kimbrel is in his walk year. He wants saves. But Alex Cora needs to forget about the bogus soft saves and use Kimbrel to get the big outs. And Kimbrel needs to be on board with this.

It's obvious to me that some people are born to complain about damn near everything. Shank is one of those people, fortunate enough for him to get paid doing it. Read on for more bitching and moaning.

Redemption

That's Shank's angle concerning David Price's excellent pitching last night:

Here are the words about David Price you thought you’d never read

As always, note the use of the passive voice here and in other parts of the column.

HOUSTON — The relentless Red Sox won the pennant on Thursday night, beating the defending world champion Houston Astros, 4-1, in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The Sox open the 114th World Series Tuesday at Fenway Park vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers or Milwaukee Brewers.

Winners of 115 games, the Sox are trying to become the first team of the 21st century to win four World Series. In October of 2018, they’ve erased the 100-win Yankees and the 103-win Astros, winning seven of nine playoff games, including five straight on the road.

And here are the words you thought you’d never read . . .

The Sox clinched the pennant on the strength of six innings of stellar, pressure-packed pitching from the much-maligned David Price.

To be fair, Shank does goes on to drop the barest of hints about his own hand in the 'much-maligning' of David Price, but it never approaches a full mea culpa. If Price somehow falters during the World Series, expect Shank to switch back to 'much maligning'.

The David Price Paradox

Shank wants to take a monster shit on the Red Sox lefty, but can't quite bring himself to do it.

Had a quick back-and-forth with my main man, David Price, at his locker Wednesday afternoon. Here’s how it went:

Me: “You said you were ‘searching’ after that bad outing in KC the other night. Did you find what you were looking for?”

Price: “Yup.”

Me: “Can you tell me what you learned?”

Price: “Nope.”

And it goes downhill from there, with Shank egging him on and Price lying through his teeth.

In case you're wondering, here's Shank ripping off / reusing local talk radio to write part of his columns for him:

Caller on Line 1: “Yeah, I love the Red Sox, but I just don’t trust David Price in a big game. He’s soft. He thinks too much. Are we gonna be able to pitch him against the Yankees, or in the playoffs?’’

Host: “Can’t argue with any of that. That’s the $217 million question for the Red Sox in the next few months.’’

Staying Alive

The Red Sox won big this afternoon, 10-3 with David Price making an excellent contribution out of the bullpen. To hear Shank describe that contribution, you'd think he had just cured cancer.

He was Sidney Wicks, Jack Clark, Rick Pitino, Adalius Thomas, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez. He was a top talent who made his professional bones and bags of cash in some other town, then came to Boston and offended an entire base of loyal fans.

Some of the treatment David Price received was unfair. Some of it was not.

But in the end, the lessons of professional sports are universal. Boston fans are no different from fans in any other sports-crazed town: If you perform, they will love you. If you don’t perform, be prepared to hear slander, libel, and words you never heard in the Bible.

Shank's one of the perpetrators; has been for well over three decades. There's little doubt in my mind John Henry told Shank to tone it down with criticism of Price.

Price performed in Sunday’s elimination Game 3 of the ALDS, coming out of the bullpen to stop the bleeding when it looked as if the Red Sox would suffer an ignominious sweep for the second straight October. Price’s four innings of shutout relief kept the Astros on the launch pad while the Sox ran to a 10-3 season-saving victory over Houston.

“The story of this one is David Price,’’ said Sox manager John Farrell, who might have been saved from the gallows with this win.

We'll see tomorrow, won't we?

That's A Big 10-4

Here's Shank getting an easy column out of David Price reigniting his 'feud' with Dennis Eckersley:

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — I’ve never really found it hard to take sides in the David Price-Dennis Eckersley dust-up. Price is a talented baby who feels he is being a good teammate and a tough guy when he rips Eckersley. A bewildered Eckersley, who never wants to talk about it, just shrugs his shoulders and wonders about his nonsensical nemesis in the Sox clubhouse.

“He’s my new Kirk Gibson,’’ Eckersley said with a laugh Saturday in Cooperstown, N.Y. “Everywhere I go people are asking me about David Price, telling me what he said about me. For years, I carried the Gibson thing around. Everybody was droppin’ a Gibson on me. Now I got this. I don’t get it.’’

No one understands it. But let’s get one thing straight: This is not a back-and-forth feud. This is Price — twice in three years — going out of his way to attack Eckersley. Eck has never fired back and he’s not firing back now. He initiated none of it and studiously avoids the topic. I tried to get him to talk about it again Saturday with no luck. Eck just wants to enjoy his life, his grandchildren, and his broadcast career. He’s recovered from alcoholism, broken marriages, and surrendering one of the most famous home runs in World Series history. A few mean words from a petulant millionaire lefty can’t hurt him.

Agreed - Price is acting like a jerkoff and he should just can it.

The Obligatory David Price Spring Training Column

It seems that Shank likes what he sees in David Price's first spring training game:

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Thursday was a good day for Boston sports. Not a single Patriot star took more money to join another NFL team, none of the Celtics got hurt before flying to Orlando for Friday’s game, and no one uttered the word “yuck” during David Price’s four innings of shutout ball at JetBlue Park against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Price threw 55 pitches, 34 for strikes, and gave up one hit and one walk while fanning five (four called) in a Grapefruit League victory over the Jays. He looked almost ready for Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Didi Gregorius.

And just in case anyone forgot, Shank helpfully reminds you of the bad stuff that happened last year:

This was Price’s first start against a big league team since last July 22, when he lost to the Angels. Price went five innings on that Saturday night in Anaheim, and 24 hours later, details spilled of his unfortunate airplane ambush of Dennis Eckersley earlier in the season.

Mentioning the other Boston sports teams in an insulting manner, dredging up the past - par for the course in a Shank spring training column.

David Price Watch

David Price pitched last night. Not bad, considering he was pitching against the worst team in the major leagues and facing a pitcher who was making his third ever start.

Is he Carl Crawford, Carl Everett, or Carl Yastrzemski?

Is David Price destined to become a Red Sox lefty hero on a par with Jon Lester, or an overpaid free agent flop like Jack Clark and Pablo Sandoval?

Price is a Fenway lightning rod in the spring of 2017. At this hour, the big questions around Price are:

The One Where Shank Finally Turns On David Price?

Taking a cue from yesterday's Felger & Mazz radio show, Shank piles on Red Sox pitcher David Price.

NEW YORK — Carpal tunnel syndrome.

David Price missed his start in New York on Wednesday night — the biggest game of the year thus far in this stellar Sox season — because of carpal tunnel syndrome.

And not only that. According to the Red Sox, Price is suffering from minor carpal tunnel syndrome.

Could things get any more hideous for Boston’s $217 million starter? Price is forever walking around Fenway with a target on his back because of his salary, his playoff history, his Dennis Eckersley ambush, and all the other quotes and stunts that indicate he is ill-equipped for Boston baseball. And now he misses a start in New York because of a condition that possibly was brought on by playing too many video games?