McAdam: David Price decides to remain with Red Sox for 4 more years

The 2018 Red Sox were remarkably free of drama, and a few days into the offseason, that trend is continuing.

Fully 14 hours before he had to decide, David Price declared that it was his intention to remain under contract with the Red Sox for the remaining four years on his original landmark seven-year, $217 million deal, signed in December of 2015.

A clause in his contract could have allowed Price to opt-out and seek a better deal elsewhere, or provide leverage for the Red Sox to rip up the current deal and add another year or two for more money.

But Price, who turned his reputation on its head with two strong starts in the World Series, made it known that he wouldn't be playing any contractual games.

"I'm opting in. I'm not going anywhere,'' said Price at Fenway Park, as he and his teammates gathered to take part in the victory parade throughout downtown Boston. "I want to win here and we did that this year and I want to do it again.''

Price now will earn $127 million over the next four seasons, with $31 million due in 2019 and $32 annually in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Price earned the first postseason win of his career when he won Game 5 of the American League Championship Series in Houston, as the Sox clinched the American League pennant. Then, after winning Game 2 of the Series the following week, allowing two runs in six innings, Price tossed seven dominant innings Sunday night, yielding only one run -- on his first pitch of the game -- as the Sox won their fourth title in 14 seasons.

"That was special,'' Price said of his role. "If I could have drawn it up, that's the way I would have drawn it up. I'm definitely happy that it happened that way and even more happy that we're world champions.''

When Price pitched as well as he did in October, eliminating that one hole in his resume, there was some speculation that he might look to go elsewhere. But the lefty said he never gave much thought to that.

"There wasn't any reconsideration on my part, ever,'' he said. "I came here to win. That was very special and now I want to do it again.''

Price was one of many potential free agents on the roster. Now that he's returning, he would like some others eligible for free agency -- closer Craig Kimbrel, reliever Joe Kelly, starter Nathan Eovaldi and World Series MVP Steve Pearce -- to return with him.

"Absolutely,'' said Price. "We want to be able to keep as many guys here as we can. We had a very good team this year and we want to continue with that trend.''

Red Sox principal owner John Henry was happy with Price's decision.

"Someone just said to me, 'We came to Boston and Boston has this reputation of never winning in the playoffs and David had the same thing (said about him),' '' said Henry. "And I said, 'Well, Boston is a good place to come to get the monkey off your back.' Because the fans here support this team and make it so that we can afford a player like David Price, whose talent shone through.

"You come to Boston and it's a tough town in many ways. I think (the opt-out) was there to give him the opportunity to see if he wanted to spend (the entire contract here). He had a lot of choices when he came to Boston, but I think he wanted to see what it's like.  Just as it would be hard for me to ever leave, I would assume David feels the same way.''

Said Pedro Martinez: "I'm not surprised (he's staying). I think David Price wanted to stay attached to this fan base. He wanted to love Boston; Boston wanted to love him. It was just a matter of getting the monkey off his back and actually doing something positive. David Price said very early in the regular season that it didn't matter what he did in the regular season. He wanted to do something for the city of Boston and the team and he did it. And I'm extremely proud of him.''