The Toronto Blue Jays have a deal in place to acquire pitcher David Price from the Detroit Tigers for AAA pitcher Daniel Norris, one of the Blue Jays’ top prospects as well as AAA pitcher Matt Boyd and Class A pitcher Jairo Labourt. This trade is pending medical evaluations.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected Price as the first overall pick in the 2007 MLB Draft. A 5-time All Star who has had a 20-win season, a Cy Young Award, and an MVP, Price is in his 8th season and the Blue Jays will be his third team. Over his last 10 starts, he has a record of 5-2 with a 2.15 ERA and 75 strikeouts, and is averaging nearly 7 innings per start this season. He has 138 strikeouts to just 29 walks.
The Blue Jays are in 3rd place in the American League East, 7 games behind the New York Yankees, but they are only 2 games out of the second Wild Card spot. They have now made 2 moves that are going to give them a good shot at making the playoffs. Along with Price, they acquired shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies.
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The Blue Jays have the hitting in place, and lead the MLB with 538 runs scored, 519 RBIs, and a .442 slugging percentage. The problem is that there are only 3 American League teams that have given up more runs and 4 that have given up more home runs. Having Price as their starter will boost their chances at making a playoff run. The only thing they need now is a closer, as they have an MLB low of 16 saves so far this season.
Norris should find himself in the Tiger rotation soon. He had some command issues a couple of years ago, but a mechanical adjustment seems to have taken care of that. He went from Class A all the way up to the Major League club last year and spent some time with the Blue Jays earlier this season.
Price will be a free agent after this season. Norris will become arbitration eligible in 2018 and will not be able to file for free agency until 2021.
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.