David Price decides to not exercise his opt-out clause:
The left-handed pitcher announced at Fenway Park Wednesday morning that he will not be exercising the opt-out clause in his seven-year, $217 million contract.
“I’m opting in,” he said prior to the team’s celebratory duck boat parade. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to win here. We did that this year, and I want to do it again.”
Price’s tenure in Boston has had its fair share of ups and downs, but the 33-year-old insisted he had always planned on opting in — even before his stellar pitching performances in the World Series.
A player opts in if he feels he’s not going to get the same money he’s earning now. Price is a little over $30 million a year, which means he needs to produce about 3.75 WAR a season. (One WAR appears to be worth around $8 million a year.) His three-year average with the Red Sox is 2.9 according to FanGraphs, 3.0 according to Baseball Reference. A team signing him now would probably offer him around $24 million. It’s nice that he wants to win with Boston again, but it’s minor compared to a likely $6 million a year pay cut.