Price blasts Eckersley after old feud resurfaces: 'I just think it's trash'
The feud between Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price and broadcaster Dennis Eckersley gained new life Wednesday.
Eckersley and Price got into a disagreement on one of the team's charter flights during the 2017 season, a dispute that was never fully resolved. Eckersley stoked the fires in an interview this week, telling Chad Finn of The Boston Globe, "I don't plan on saying a word to (Price), I don't plan on seeing him, never."
Price responded to the Hall of Fame closer's comments during a Wednesday interview with reporters and held almost nothing back.
"It's absolutely what disappoints me the most," the left-hander said, according to MassLive's Chris Cotillo. "He wants to move on, but he continues to go on the radio and do interviews about it. If you want to move on, move on. We're two grown men. We can meet. Nothing's going to happen."
The 33-year-old didn't stop there.
"Honestly, I just think it's trash," Price added. "He had an unbelievable career, 25 seasons and he's a Hall of Famer. I saw his special on MLB Network. It was cool. The one thing that stood out to me was that he had zero former teammates in that interview. Not one talking about him. It was him talking about himself.
"If anybody ever does a special on me after baseball, I won't need to go on that interview. I will have former teammates. I will have former coaches. They can all vouch for me. He didn't have that. To me, that is all you need to know. That tells the entire story right there."
I had a meeting set up to apologize to him and he backed out that day. Get your facts right...
— David Price (@DAVIDprice24) July 17, 2019
Because ECK needs attention!! Same as every broadcast...hahah 8 pitches are thrown and he’s sitting there talking about something he did 30 years ago (with zero mention of what’s going on)
— David Price (@DAVIDprice24) July 17, 2019
Price isn't the only pitcher to recently butt heads with Eckersley. Last month, Eckersley took aim at Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman - once Price's teammate - calling the All-Star's celebratory actions "tired." Stroman responded by dubbing the former AL MVP's comments "always trash."
"Have you seen videos of Eckersley pitching?" Price said Wednesday in defense of Stroman. "Have you seen the stuff that he did when he struck somebody out? Really? Shooting them with a finger gun? Come on. Stroman is out there yelling, 'Yeah.' No. He needs to wake up."
Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted the resurfacing of the Price-Eckersley controversy is unlikely to become a distraction for his team, but he didn't seem pleased to address it.
"It sucks that it keeps coming (up), you know?" Cora said, according to WFXT's Tom Leyden. "I guess David talked to you guys and you guys know how he feels about it, so we'll leave it at that."