David Price says there would be a major stubbling block to him signing a long-term deal with the Yankees.
The superstar Rays lefty, who some envision as the ace of the future in The Bronx, said he would chafe at the Yankees’ long-standing policy against facial hair.
“I wouldn’t stay there very long then,” he told FoxSports.com. “I wouldn’t sign a long-term deal there. Those rules, that’s old-school baseball. I was born in ’85. That’s not for me. That’s not something I want to be a part of.”
PHOTOS: YANKEES SPRING TRAINING
The often-bearded Price, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, can become a free agent after the 2015 season. That makes him a trade candidate in the near future for the low-budget Rays, who likely cannot afford to re-sign Price to a market-rate contract extension (think Felix Hernandez’s recent $175 million deal with the Mariners, for starters).
Price said he was “not taking a discount” and “I don’t play this game for the money, but I don’t want to be underappreciated.”
Cue the pinstriped fantasies. The Rays dealt right-hander James Shields to Kansas City this winter in a similar situation.
“I have no say-so in what goes on the next three years of my career,” Price said. “It’s all up to the organization. I don’t think about it. If that’s what they feel they need to do, then they’ll do it.”
But the 27-year-old has grown accustomed to the Rays’ free-wheeling clubhouse atmosphere, and finds restrictions such as the Yankees’ scruff ban — which recently claimed Kevin Youkilis’ goatee — overly restrictive and antiquated.
“It’s a joke to me, that I had less rules in college than I would on some major-league teams,” Price said. “That’s not my style, man. I couldn’t do it on some of these teams I hear about. I couldn’t do it. I’m a grown man.”