Red Sox left-handed starter David Price says he's done talking to the media on days when he doesn't start and it sounds like he's angry with the Boston scribes.
Here's a quick glimpse:
As Drellich notes, Price has every right to not talk to anyone, especially on the days he doesn't pitch. Of course, Price was not happy about that tweet in particular.
"After the game, Price wasn't happy. He was directly unhappy with me," Drellich explained on Boston Sports Tonight. "We had a conversation about it. I prefer not to detail it because I think the conversation was meant to be mostly private. But it was loud enough that most of the reporters overheard it and it will probably be talked about to some extent.
"My takeaway is that, from both the story and from the conversation I had with him, is he's unhappy with how he's been treated in Boston. The bottom line doesn't change."
The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley talked about Price's comments in his Thursday morning column, in which he reported multiple profanity-laced outbursts from Price toward present media. Price reportedly told Buckley directly, "Write whatever the [expletive] you want. Just write it. Whatever the [expletive] you want."
Price was also overheard saying, presumably about the media, "[Expletive] them! [Expletive] them all. All of them."
So it's a bit tough to figure out exactly what Price is angry with, aside from maybe not wanting things out to the public. I mean, surely there are going to be legions of people flocking to his side because they hate this faux-monolith that they've created ("the media," because we're all evil and the same). But really, what is Price actually mad about? I'm picturing Steve Carrell's portrayal of Brick in "Anchorman" where he screams "I don't know what we're yelling about!"
The best guess is that going from the Tampa Bay baseball media market for the first six and a half years of his career to Boston with a $200M-plus contract is a bit of a leap for Price. Sure, he had Detroit for roughly a year and Toronto for a half season (where he had basically no adversity until the playoffs), but the Boston media landscape is probably the toughest outside New York. It can get overbearing, I'm sure. The Tampa Bay to Boston leap was definitely really tough on Carl Crawford, for example.
Bear in mind that Price led the majors in hits allowed last season, posting a 3.99 ERA before the Indians torched him in the ALDS. Then Price was hurt this season until finally returning on May 29. The five-time All-Star and former Cy Young winner carries a seven-year, $217 million contract, so the Boston media isn't going to go easy on him.
Price has always been outgoing publicly, notably on social media. The few times I've personally spoken with him, he was as nice and straight-forward as anyone. The smart money here is on frustration with his down 2016 and the injury this year along with the huge leap in attention boiling over. If he pitches the rest of the year -- including the playoffs! -- like he did last time out (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), things will probably start to go more smoothly.