WATCH ABOVE: The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired David Price from the Detroit Tigers. Mark Carcasole spoke to fans before Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Royals.
TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired ace pitcher David Price from the Detroit Tigers.
The deal will see the departure of top prospect Daniel Norris, along with two other left-handed pitchers, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt.
Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos said Price would “fit incredibly well” with the team.
“We really haven’t had a true number one since Roy Halladay was here,” he said at a press conference, referring to the All Star pitcher who played for the Blue Jays from 1998 to 2009.
“No matter what the club was like you just felt like you were a great club.”
WATCH: Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos makes David Price trade official
Anthopoulos said he thought his phone was going to “blow up” after news of the deal broke, and even heard from the Blue Jays’ right fielder.
“I did get a text from Jose Bautista and he said, ‘Is it true?’ And I said, ‘Yes’ and he wrote back ‘Yes!’ with about a million exclamation points,” he said, adding that pitchers like Price “can make you a great team all by themselves.”
“It’s great for some of the other guys to be around him as well.”
WATCH: Jose Bautista sends Alex Anthopoulos humourous text following news of David Price trade
Anthopoulos said the trade proposal “totally came out of nowhere” as Price didn’t even seem to be available when the Troy Tulowitzki trade was made Tuesday, adding that he doesn’t expect the team to make anymore moves ahead of the trade deadline tomorrow.
CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman was first to report the deal just after 12:30 p.m. ET.
The Jays later confirmed the trade Just before 2 p.m.
READ MORE: Twitter erupts after reports of Toronto Blue Jays acquiring David Price from Detroit Tigers
The 29-year-old Price has made 21 starts for Detroit in 2015, posting a 9-4 record with a 2.53 ERA.
The left-handed Murfreesboro, Tennessee native ranks fourth in the American League in strikeouts with 138, fifth in ERA and seventh in winning percentage with 0.692.
WATCH: What was the timeline for the surprising trade for David Price?
Price won the Cy Young in 2012 and finished second in the voting in 2010 and sixth last season. The 6’6″ 210 lb pitcher was also selected first overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007.
The trade comes after a major deal that sent shock waves through the baseball world when star shortstop Jose Reyes was traded from the Blue Jays to the Colorado Rockies in a multi-player deal that saw Troy Tulowitzki join the team on Tuesday.
Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins were sent to the Blue Jays in a deal with Colorado for Reyes, reliever Miguel Castro and minor-league pitchers Jeff Hoffman and Jesus Tinoco.
Tulowitzki wasted no time getting adjusted to the team, hitting a home run with three runs batted in as Toronto beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-2 on Wednesday night.
Tulowitzki said after the game that he was nervous playing in his first Blue Jays game since being traded from the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday but finding his swing helped calm his nerves.
WATCH: Alex Anthopoulos doesn’t believe he gutted farm system to land Price, Tulowitzki
With files from The Canadian Press
Comments