McAdam: David Price can't let go of past feud with Dennis Eckersley

Thanks to his standout performance in the 2018 ALCS and World Series, David Price left his reputation as a shaky postseason performer behind last October.

Price freed himself from his past history and earned himself a fresh start with Red Sox fans. Duckboats and parades can go a long way in the cleansing process.

But there's another part of his history that Price can't let go of -- his petty feud with Hall of Fame pitcher and NESN broadcaster Dennis Eckersley that dates back better than two years.

In the 2017 season, Price took great exception to Eckersley's one-word response (''Yuck!") to an on-screen graphic showing the results of a less-than-impressive rehab start by Eduardo Rodriguez. To register his displeasure, Price went to great lengths to coordinate a confrontation of Eckersley on the team charter.

It was the kind of behavior that seemed to typify the team's disfunction that season, and when manager John Farrell, fearing a split clubhouse, failed to intervene, it effectively sealed his fate.

The passage of time -- to say nothing of the team's title and Price's personal redemption -- appeared to put the matter in the rear view mirror.

Until Wednesday.



Writing for The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, Chad Finn's 3,500 word profile of Eckersley naturally recalled the bl0w-up with Eckersley, with Eckersley putting the issue behind him. "I don't plan on saying a word to him, I don't plan on seeing him, never.''

Apparently, that was too much for Price. He responded on Twitter initially (''Today's gonna be lit #staytuned''), then addressed the media pre-game in the Red Sox clubhouse.

Price then proceeded to unfurl a litany of half-truths, highlighted by his contention that he had already apologized to Eckersley for his behavior on the plane when, in fact, he had only allowed that he could have handled things better.

He maintained that Eckersley never showed for a scheduled meeting between the two, a fact belied by Eckersley at the time, who said he had no interest in meeting with Price, predicting that he would be walking into another ambush.

Most bizarrely, Price went out of his way to (erroneously) note that a recent documentary on Eckersley that aired on the MLB Network included "zero former teammates in that interview. 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's all you need to know. That tells the entire story right there.''

In point of fact, the following appeared in the doc: Fred Lynn, Mark McGwire, Bruce Hurst, Ron Darling, Tony La Russa and Ray Fosse.

So much for Price's research. To suggest that Eckersley was some sort of pariah during his career couldn't be more disingenuous. To the contrary, Eckersley's contemporaries both respect and revere him. You'll not find a more popular Hall of Famer.

But Price's contention that he has lots of friends in the game and Eckersley has none, and thus was left to self-promote, sounds like something better suited for a junior high playground. Perhaps this didn't dawn on Price two years ago, but he's doomed to second place if he intends to get into a popularity contest with Eckersley.

Price exists in an echo chamber -- the clubhouse -- in which teammates voice their support as a matter of course, particularly when one of their own faces outside criticism. The natural tendency is to rally around a teammate in the crosshairs, providing support to one of their own. That kind of brotherhood and bonding is understandable.

However, that sort of monolithic thought process -- us against the world -- can provide some with a false sense of righteousness. My teammates have my back, so I must be right.

What's curious is why Price feels so aggrieved at the tiniest slight. He continues to harbor resentment toward the media and needs little to no prompting to voice his complaints. On the day after David Ortiz was shot in the Dominican, a TV reporter innocently asked Price if had been busily checking his phone throughout the night for updates.

Price quickly disabused him of that notion, claiming that would be of no benefit "since you guys are wrong half the time.''

Further, it remains unclear why Price chooses to carry such resentment as a matter of course. He's healthy, the father of a healthy baby boy, fabulously wealthy and a reigning world champion. Again, what's the issue here?

His manager Alex Cora maintained that the issue wouldn't serve as a distraction as the Red Sox attempt to make up ground in the playoff race, and he's probably correct -- these things ordinarily have much shelf life. It helps, too, that, purely by the accident of scheduling, Eckersley won't be around the team for the next couple of weeks.

Price has been the team's most consistent starter this season, one of the few members of the pitching staff who has performed to his capability. He's not to blame for the third-place record.

But now that he's rehabbed his reputation on the mound, he might next turn his attention to ensuring that's he not widely viewed as a thin-skinned athlete needlessly obsessed with settling past scores.