Price makes Red Sox threat to unseat Blue Jays in AL East

If Dave Dombrowski's mandate in Boston wasn't painfully obvious when he shipped four prospects to San Diego for a closer, the newly hired president of baseball operations eliminated every last shred of uncertainty Tuesday when he made David Price the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history: The Red Sox aren't messing around anymore.

Hired away from the Detroit Tigers in August as the Red Sox were stumbling towards a second straight last-place finish in the American League East, Dombrowski addressed his most obvious need in the most predictable way imaginable, using his new club's financial might to give the best free agent on the market a seven-year, $217-million deal without forfeiting a draft pick.

Reasonable people can debate how bad the Red Sox actually were last summer - they finished fourth in the majors in runs scored and their rotation had the ninth-best ERA after the All-Star break - but their inability to re-sign Jon Lester, along with a series of bad investments by now-deposed general manager Ben Cherington, amplified the club's foibles. With Tuesday's new addition, though, Dombrowski erased the sour taste that lingered even after Cherington stepped down while positioning the Red Sox as a true threat to the Toronto Blue Jays - Price's former employer - as they contend for a second straight division title in 2016.

Projected 2016 rotation

With the exception of Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale, Price is the game's preeminent left-handed starter, a bona fide ace who fashioned a career-best 2.45 ERA (60 ERA-) in 2015 while eclipsing 200 innings for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Since 2010, his first full season in the majors, Price ranks third among starters in WAR, boasting plus-plus command that has actually improved in recent years without any regression in his stuff.

More importantly, though, Price's presence in Boston allows everyone to relax a little. Rick Porcello can go back to inducing ground balls instead of trying to pitch like a guy making more than $20 million per season. Eduardo Rodriguez, who turns 23 in April, doesn't have to worry about carrying a rotation populated mostly by mediocre veterans. Henry Owens can keep honing his craft at Triple-A instead of worrying about why he's not getting major-league hitters out. Hanley Ramirez won't have that "highest-paid player on the team" label hanging over him anymore, either.

Now that Price has decided to tag along on David Ortiz's farewell tour, there will be a certain amount of pressure on the Red Sox to be good immediately. But even if 2016 is a bust, better days lie ahead. Only eight players age 24 or younger produced more than four WAR in 2015, and the Red Sox employ two of them. Between Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Blake Swihart, and Yoan Moncada, the Red Sox boast an obnoxiously talented stable of youngsters that should keep the club relevant even if veterans like Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval continue to age poorly.

And though the Red Sox have already committed more than $157 million to their 2017 payroll, with another $122 million on the the books for 2018, too, budgetary concerns don't really exist in Boston. The only price that really matters, now, is David.