Joel Sherman

Joel Sherman

MLB

Rays ace could be prize of offseason

BOSTON — This was a late Sunday morning a few days before the July 31 trade deadline. Joe Maddon and I sat in the visiting dugout at Yankee Stadium and I presented an encouraging-discouraging case for the Tampa Bay manager.

Over the previous two days, Jeremy Hellickson, 26, had limited the Yankees to one run in six innings and Chris Archer, 24, had fired a two-hit shutout. Matt Moore, 24 and named a first-time All-Star earlier in the month, was a few hours away from starting the finale.

Twice earlier in the year, Alex Cobb, 25, had dominated the Yankees, leaving many of the hitters claiming the righty’s changeup was the best pitch they had faced all year. As Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long said, “it just disappears.”

So, I wanted to know: Did Maddon feel blessed to have so much young pitching or cursed because it potentially made David Price easier to trade?

Maddon, as he always does, embraced the conundrum with goodwill and positivity. He knows where he works, a small-market team renowned for being proactive in such matters. “But I want to believe that we will find a way to keep him.” He also mentioned how important Price is not only as an ace, but for the team’s “culture.”

Price, Maddon explained, is for Rays pitchers what Evan Longoria is for the position players — the leader who preaches the combination of looseness, professionalism and underdog spirit that bonds this roster.

The public sentiment of the Rays is they will try to find a way to keep their ace. But it is possible his stinker Saturday — seven runs in seven-plus innings in a 7-4 Boston victory that gave the Red Sox a two-games-to-none lead in this Division Series — was his final outing for Tampa Bay.

“No,” Price said when asked if he was thinking about that possibility. But, yes, was the vote of all nine executives I reached Saturday when asked if they thought Price would be dealt. Because:

1) He made $10 million this year and could climb to $15 million through arbitration this offseason. That just may be too rich for the Rays to retain him and still assemble a quality team.

2) The return value of a player is so much higher two years from free agency than anything less than that. Tampa Bay knows this, having traded Matt Garza after the 2011 season and James Shields after 2012. Both were two years from free agency, as Price is now.

3) As a quality team, Tampa Bay no longer has access to the best players in the first few picks in the draft, as it did in 2007 when it took Price first overall. Thus, to regenerate the farm system with quality, the Rays feel a need to consummate these types of four-for-one trades that bring a bushel of talent to the system.

The Rays operate under the principle all 29 teams have the capacity to assemble a deal for Price. So, they close their minds to no one and simply decide who is serious by the offers. And those offers are probably going to have to be better than what Tampa Bay garnered for Shields, who was older and not quite as good as the 28-year-old, reigning Cy Young winner Price.

To get Shields and Wade Davis, Kansas City gave the Rays Wil Myers, who was viewed as both near major league ready and one of the game’s best prospects, plus three other prospects, including well-regarded pitchers Mike Montgomery and Jake Odorizzi.

Executives expect Tampa Bay would prefer to trade Price outside the AL East, preferably to the NL. It will not be an easy trade because the acquiring team not only has to give up a premium package, but likely will have to treat Price as a free agent and sign him long-term so he does not leave after the 2015 campaign.

But because so few starters of Price’s skill reach free agency now, teams recognize a trade is about the only entry point to land a prime-aged arm like this. My nine-executive panel mentioned 13 possible suitors. None mentioned Baltimore, which feels an ace away from being a high-end contender.

The Rangers came up most often, probably because they have shortstop Jurickson Profar to front a deal. Nevertheless, Tampa Bay really likes its own Yunel Escobar (who is signed for the next two seasons at $5 million per) plus still has strong belief in Hak-Ju Lee, who with Archer was key to the Garza deal. He missed most of this season after tearing knee ligaments.

The Cubs also were mentioned several times because they are deep in position prospects, notably Javier Baez, Albert Almora and Jorge Soler and have a top pitching prospect in C.J. Edwards, who coincidentally they obtained from Texas in July for Garza. Also, Cubs minor league pitching coordinator Derek Johnson was Price’s pitching coach at Vanderbilt.

The Diamondbacks, because of the presence of touted pitching prospect Archie Bradley, were mentioned frequently, as were the Padres, Giants, Reds and Red Sox.

If the Rays win Games 3 and 4 at home, Price would start the decisive Game 5 back at Fenway Park. If not, a game of The Price is Right begins for the Rays, and Maddon likely will begin a search for his next ace.