San Diego Padres: Could a deal for David Price make sense

We take a look at whether or not it makes sense for the San Diego Padres to make a trade for starting pitcher David Price.

The San Diego Padres would obviously love to get a frontline starter to go with the depth of young starters they already have.

There was no way they were going to be able to match the deals that Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg got this offseason, so if they’re going to find an impact arm for the rotation it will likely have to come via trade.

With that, it appears that San Diego has at least shown some level of interest in Boston Red Sox left-handed pitcher David Price.

The Red Sox have let it be known they are looking to shed some salary, and Price is owed $96 million over the next three seasons.

Let’s take a look at what Price could offer the Padres, and then I’ll give you a couple of trade scenarios.

Price is 34-years-old and won’t turn 35 until August, so he’ll play most of 2020 at 34.

In the last three seasons, he’s averaged 119 innings a season with a 3.75 ERA over that time and 381 strikeouts.

According to FanGraphs, he’s been around a 2.5 WAR player for those three seasons. A far cry from his prime years when he was regularly a 4-5 WAR player.

If you go by the notion that 1 WAR is worth around $8 million, then Price is probably a $15-$20 million pitcher at this point.

And as his age continues to climb, you have to wonder if he’s even going to be worth that in the final three years of his contract.

I’m not trying to say I wouldn’t like having Price atop the San Diego rotation, but that’s a pretty expensive risk that could hamstring the team for a while.

But let’s take a look at how a trade could work for Price and then discuss whether or not it makes sense.