Alex Anthopoulos believes the criticism surrounding the Toronto Blue Jays‘ usage of all-star pitcher David Price is a bit off base.
In a guest appearance on The Jeff Blair Show Thursday morning, the Blue Jays general manager said Price is pleased with his current role with Toronto and, in fact, wants to be used even more.
“He was completely on board with it. He wants to pitch every day,” Anthopoulos told co-hosts Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “He wanted to pitch that game R.A. (Dickey) pitched in Arlington when he went 4.2 innings. He wanted to start that game. From an outsider’s standpoint — how people think he should or shouldn’t be used — that’s fine. Everyone has the right to have their own opinion. David is completely on board. He’s absolutely involved in the process. We involve our players in everything we do.
“David has talked to us as an organization — to us, to (John Gibbons), to Pete Walker — that he’s ready to go,” Anthopoulos said. “He’s ready to throw out of the (bullpen). It was discussed before (Game 5) so I don’t know why there would be any surprises. It was talked about before that he could get up in this game. He was completely on board with it.”
The Blue Jays’ handling of Price has become a highly debated topic across baseball. Many were critical of manager John Gibbons when Price was used in a relief role, throwing 50 pitches, to help preserve a win in Game 4 of the ALDS against Texas when Toronto already had a six-run lead. His usage again became a talking point when he was seen warming up in the bullpen late in the Blue Jays’ Game 5 victory on Wednesday over the Royals.
“We don’t get ahead of ourselves,” Anthopoulos said. “It’s consistent in our decision making when we were playing the Rangers. We needed to get to Game 6. We’re not thinking about lining up for Game 6 or Game 7 starters because we (first) needed to get to Game 6. Look what happened to the Astros. They were up four runs and the Royals came back.
“We’re up five runs (in Game 5) and even the night before (Kansas City) is up 5-2 and then the floodgates came open against us and it’s 14. A five-run lead, as good as it may feel, we’ve seen that things can change and we needed to make sure. (Gibbons) and I said the game plan was get to Game 6. That was the game plan once we got down 0-2.”
The Blue Jays are confident with how they’ve used Price, but there have been some rumblings that he’s a bit displeased with his deployment, as Sportsnet’s Jeff Blair alluded to in his column late Wednesday night.
“There’s a sense among some of the national reporters who have spent more time around him than any of us that he isn’t all that thrilled with the way he’s been used in the post-season,” Blair wrote Thursday. “If they ask the right questions, they’ll find there are uniformed personnel in the Blue Jays clubhouse who don’t exactly view him as Pitching Jesus anymore, either.”
Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports wrote a scathing column of the club’s “misuse” of their ace, comparing Price to a puppet and proclaiming that there’s no chance the pending free agent will want to come back to the Blue Jays next season.
“I know Jeff (Passan) slightly and have gotten to know him more over the past year or so but I don’t know him well,” Anthopoulos explained. “He normally does a very good job. Look, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. Clearly we’d love to have (David) back. We’ll have an opportunity. Where that goes — no one knows once you start the negotiation process.”
Despite the noise, the Blue Jays are pleased with how they’ve managed their situation and will start the 30-year-old lefty Friday night in Game 6 when the series shifts back to Kansas City.
Price has made three appearances for the Blue Jays since the post-season began, going 1-2 with a 7.02 ERA, two home runs allowed, two walks and 15 strikeouts in 16.2 innings.
The Royals lead the best-of-seven series 3-2.
