The Tampa Bay Rays didn't find a deal they liked at the MLB winter meetings, but they had plenty of teams interested in their man David Price, including the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners and Yankees and after asking for a big package in return, the team still is retaining their Cy Young winner.
Price is the top pitcher on the trade market this offseason and it comes with two years of team control and arbitration before he will be a free agent in 2015. Price has won a Cy Young and had a very strong finish to the season and no one the market is at his talent level and that's what makes him such an interesting trade target, especially for contending teams like the Rangers and the Yankees. The biggest hang up to any deal though is the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays want an impressive haul for the star and according to Hardball Talk, they could be asking for way too much.
The report from the website says that the Cleveland Indians were one of the teams in the mix for Price, but the team asked for Carlos Santana and Danny Salazar to start and that would be a huge snag for the club. A similar story came out about the Seattle Mariners, as the Rays asked for Taijuan Walker in any deal and he is considered one of the best prospects in baseball. The Mariners were in the mix after signing Robinson Cano, as they are looking to make major moves, but after Price said that he could not sign and extension with the M's, that was likely a deal breaker.
Any team trading for Price wants to sign him to an extension rather than have him be a two year rental and that makes the Rangers interesting, as they have said they are willing to trade names like Elvis Andrus and Jurickson Profar. The Rays will wait to find a deal they like and while they don't want to pay Price in arbitration, they may just have to if they hold out for a deal with such prized prospects, as it might be too high for other teams to consider.
