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June 8, 2017

David Price's Relationship With The Boston Media Is Not Good

David Price told Globe columnist Dan Shaugnessy yesterday that he will be talking to the media only on days he pitches.
I don't talk to the media every day like I did last year and I guess I get blown up for that. But I was honest with everything they asked me last year and I get blown up for that. So they did this to themselves. Talk to me on the day I pitch and that's it. There are no more personal interviews. There are no more asking me questions on a personal level. That's done.
Hours later, after the Red Sox had been routed by the Yankees, Price had a confrontation with Evan Drellich of Comcast SportsNet New England. As Drellich stated, on Boston Sports Tonight:
After the game, Price wasn't happy. He was directly unhappy with me. 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 Herald's Steve Buckley also had an exchange with Price after the game:
Where to begin? Following the Sox' 8-0 loss to the Yankees, as the media was entering a long hallway that leads to the clubhouse, Price asked to speak with former Herald scribe Evan Drellich ...

"Sure," said Drellich, who fell behind as the rest of the group entered manager John Farrell's office. Price already was speaking loudly to Drellich when we entered the office. Kevin Gregg, the Sox media relations director, shooed everyone out of the hallway and into the office then closed the door. We still could hear Price yelling. ...

My hope was to wait to speak with Price and see if this [his decision to restrict media access] indeed was the case. ...

Price informed me that yes, from now on, he'd only talk on days he pitches. He followed with this: "Write whatever the (expletive) you want. Just write it. Whatever the (expletive) you want."

Soon Drellich was back in the room, and he and Price went at it again. When Drellich said something about Price's professionalism, [Rick] Porcello, standing nearby, asked about Drellich's professionalism. ...

The last words I heard from David Price last night were "(Expletive) them! (Expletive) them all. All of them."
Christopher Smith of Masslive.com added some background:
Drellich tweeted several comments about Price during the game, including a quote from Shaughnessy's story and what MLB's Collective Bargaining Agreement recommends to players about speaking with the media.

Was Price looking on Twitter within five minutes after Wednesday's game ended to see what was written about him?

It seems like that is quite possible. Drellich didn't tag Price's Twitter handle in any of the tweets.

He's too sensitive. That's why things haven't gone well for him in Boston. Price pays too much attention and cares way too much about what media members and fans on Twitter think about him. ...

Drew Pomeranz didn't take it personally when several columns were written about how the Red Sox should have rescinded his trade from the Padres.

Rick Porcello didn't snap at the media when his contract was criticized during his disappointing 2015 season. ...

If he truly is done with the media, then just be done. And that means be done reading and listening to everything. Just pitch.
As it turns out, all of this has been reported on the day Price is pitching. So he should be available for questions. Depending on Price's performance against the Yankees, this could get very interesting.

1 comment:

  1. A post by SoSHer John Marzano Olympic Hero:

    "For practically the entirety of Pedro's career, the hosts of the morning show that broadcasted on the Red Sox radio network would talk smack about probably the best pitcher in Red Sox history. "Petey the Punk", "Pedro the diva" and other terms were used day after day after day after day. If he was dominant in a victory, it was because the other team sucked. If he happened to lose, it was because Pedro couldn't win "when he had to". And it wasn't just them, but they were the most vocal; the most consistent with the vile.

    "It was nonstop with these guys.

    "So you can literally be one of the most transcendent pitchers who ever toed the mound and there are some members of the Boston media who will never give you a break. And they do it because they think it makes them "tougher" and they get a chub thinking about how everyone in the country thinks that "they're the hardest media horde in America" (no one give a shit and no one thinks that) or how they aren't "yahoo homers".

    "The thing is Price does have it figured out with these guys. If Pedro Martinez can't get respect from the Boston media, how can he?"

    ******

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