Tampa Bay Rays: The Biggest Contracts the Past 12 Years

David Price 1yr/$14M (2014)

In 2012, David Price dominated the Major Leagues posting a league best 20 wins and 2.56 ERA on his way to a Cy Young Award. The previous year, Price led the league in starts with 34 and sported a 3.49 ERA while doing it. Following his Cy Young season, Price also led the league in strikeouts per win at 5.59, walks per 9 at 1.3 and complete games with 4. Price was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball and it was only a matter of time before he was paid like one

Following his dominating 2012 season, Price was set to enter arbitration but instead was offered a 1 year $10 million contract. This helped out both sides because the Rays saved on what was going to be a large payday, and Price had a guaranteed amount of money that was agreed upon going into the season. The same idea followed the following year in 2014, this time with a $4 million pay raise from the previous year. Price ended up being dealt to the Tigers at the deadline for Drew Smyly and Willy Adames before receiving his big pay day from the Boston Red Sox in 2015.