OKLAHOMA CITY — As part of his experience as the Warren Spahn Award winner, David Price got the chance to autograph a baseball with former pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.
He noticed one significant difference between their signatures: the three little letters, “HOF,” that Jenkins put next to his name.
“That’s definitely something I would like to add to my signature,” Price said Thursday while accepting the award recognizing baseball’s top left-handed pitcher.
Having pitched in a World Series, started the All-Star game and finished second in voting for the AL Cy Young Award by age 25, Price has the highest of aspirations for his baseball career.
“I expect a lot of stuff from myself,” said Price, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft. “If I come anywhere near meeting my expectations for myself, everybody else ought to be pretty satisfied.”
Price could find it more difficult to live up to his own expectations this season. The Rays have been ravaged by free agency after their second AL East title in three years, losing All-Star outfielder Carl Crawford and first baseman Carlos Pena, along with AL saves leader Rafael Soriano and four other members of a strong bullpen.
Shortstop Jason Bartlett was traded away, as was Matt Garza — Price’s partner at the top of Tampa Bay’s rotation.
“As much as it stinks for me to see him go because he was one of my better friends on the team and one of my better friends in major league baseball, we got some pretty good prospects for him,” Price said. “It might not pan out this year, but those guys are going to come up, they’re going to make their presence felt, and they’re going to help us win.”
None of the departures have shaken Price’s confidence in the franchise that has already shown a knack for finding prospects who can contribute to a playoff team. Perhaps the highest-profile departure was Crawford, who signed a seven-year, $142 million deal with division rival Boston.
“You can’t really replace a guy like that. He’s such a good guy in the clubhouse and obviously on the field. The balls that he’s diving for, those are doubles for any other left fielder. That’s what a lot of people just don’t understand. He’s a tough player to replace,” Price said.
“We’ve got a lot of young talent with the Rays, we’re looking to built from within right now and we’re looking to win in 2011. These young guys have got to help us do it.”
Price went 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA last season and finished behind Seattle’s Felix Hernandez in voting for the Cy Young. Hernandez was 13-12 but led the AL in ERA (2.27), innings (249 2-3) and opponents’ batting average (.212) — his record suffered because of minuscule run support.
“If he puts up those numbers anywhere else, he’s going to have over 20 wins. I can’t argue with that,” Price said. “That’s the one thing I feel like you really can’t control is winning or losing. You can control strikeouts, you can control for the most part ERA. That’s what he did, so I feel like he was the most dominant pitcher even though he didn’t get the wins.”
The Spahn Award is based solely on statistics — wins, ERA and strikeouts — and Price didn’t take the lead over Boston’s Jon Lester until he struck out eight in eight shutout innings against Baltimore in his final start. CC Sabathia had won the Spahn Award the past three years, and other previous winners include Johan Santana, Dontrelle Willis, Andy Pettitte and Randy Johnson.
“To win an award named after an icon in baseball like Warren Spahn, it means a lot,” Price said. “The previous winners, CC Sabathia, Johan and Randy Johnson, those are the game’s best left-handed pitchers. Those are the guys that I grew up watching my entire life.
“To be able to stand in the same place as them and have the same trophy as they had, it’s pretty impressive.”
It also gives him additional bragging rights on Sabathia next month — not only the division title, but an individual award, too.
“I plan on ragging on him in the spring whenever I see him,” Price said. “Like a little challenge, I guess.”
Then he’ll have to trust in his new supporting cast to get the job done again.
“That’s what this franchise has done,” Price said. “They’ve lost guys but build from within. It’s really what got us to the postseason the last two out of three years. The guys that they’ve had, they’ve built up from within and made trades when they needed to. That’s what they’re doing right now.”