The PRICE is Right

Grundy County Grizzlies reacquired their 2010 1^st Round Draft Pick, LHSP David Price.  Bob Barker, I mean Ed Kilmer, GM of the EdCouch New Potatoes traded David Price to Jack Howard and the Grundy County Grizzlies for RHSP Alex Cobb and Door Number 4 (the Griz’s 2014 4^th Round Draft Pick).   Howard and Kilmer exchanged emails for a week or so.  Howard made several counteroffers.  But, Kilmer’s price for Price was his price.  Howard ending up paying Kilmer’s price for Price.

One might question why Kilmer would seek to trade the ACE of his Potato Head Staff.  After all David Price was the EDCouch’s STAR Player last year.  David’s 2013 NASBL record reflected his 2012 major league CY Young award winning season.  David won 18 of his 27 New Potatoes’ decisions.  Price’s ERA was a very respectable 3.57 and David had 214 strikeouts over 210 innings.  Needless to say, David Price carried the Potato Heads on his back to a division win and playoff spot.  Without Price, it is unlikely the Potato Heads would have won 104 games in 2013; second most in the NASBL.

A big part of the reason Kilmer may have traded Price to the Griz was to acquire Cobb.  To be quite frank, Cobb’s Strat card for the coming season is better than Price’s card. It appears that Price will mow down left-handed batters as expected.  However, David is vulnerable to right handed hitters.  Cobb on the other hand has a very balanced solid card.  Additionally, Cobb is a RHSP, which usually produces better results than LHP in Strat, especially in small leagues such as the NASBL.   Cobb showed a lot when he overcame a baseball to the forehead.  Cobb returned to the mound after seeing stars and became a Star.  Alex pitched better upon his return to the mound than he had pitched before his injury.
Or, maybe Kilmer has a devious plan.  Kilmer may have schemed to add another LHP to make the already unbalanced Griz staff more southern oriented.   The GRIZ will rely on LHSP at their ( 1), (2), and (3) rotations spots in 2014.  The Griz will trot Cliff Lee, Price, and Cole Hamels out to bump, or maybe it will be Price/Hamels/Lee, or possibly Hamels /Lee/Price; depending on the Mrs.’s time of the month. 

Whatever, NASBL managers are licking their lips with sweet anticipation thinking how they are going to kick Griz butt.  Justin Rabidoux of the Vermont Fighting Sioux got a hard-on (woody, penile erection, or whatever you may wish to call it [I like to call it Mr. Happy}) when he picked Paul Konerko in the 2014 Supplemental Draft.  Konerko kills LHP and that pick alone make the Sioux favorites to win the division this season.  It will be interesting to see who drafts Jordy Mercer, for Mercer’s stick against LHP is stronger than Howard’s Mr. Happy.   

So why would Howard trade for a 3^rd LHSP.  Jack stated he regrets 2 trades more than all others.  He wished he had never traded away Brandon Phillips who anchored his infield defense and he regretted trading David Price.  Howard got good return for those players, but he had not realized how much the two meant to him and the Griz team.  Howard drafted Price in the #9 slot of the 2010 draft (just ahead of Andrew McCutchen) with the intent of handing David the ball every 4 days for the next 20 years.  Howard had sought to reacquire both players at different times over the last few years with no luck.  Then Mr. Kilmer came emailing.

Mr. Happy rose to the occasion when Kilmer offered Price and Howard could not refuse.  At the news conference announcing the reacquisition of Price, Howard said, I will restate what I said 4 years ago when we drafted the young lad from Vanderbilt: “We hope last year’s performance was just a dip for this former top prospect and we hope he will lead our rotation in the future.”  With the acquisition of a 3^rd LHSP, Howard is pondering moving his whole pitching staff south to see if the warmer side of the mound can cause havoc throughout the NASBL.