Wrong. First, sending him to AAA won't keep him fresh, as he'll be starting there. Second, there's no penny-pinching benefits to them sending him down, unless of course you think they're doing it to save roughly 100K/Month. His salary at in the bigs would be 750k, in the minors, 150k. No matter what happens as far as service time this year, he won't be eligible for free-agency until 2014 at the earliest regardless of how long they keep him down right now.
They're sending him down because he's a two-pitch pitcher right now - he has almost no feel or command for a change-up. That won't be enough at the top level, sorry. There's also the case of two guys fighting for the fifth spot that have no options left. This means that if they elect to keep Price and send one of them down they'll run the risk of losing them because they'd have to pass through waivers before they could be assigned to a minor league team. The chances that no team would claim either one of them are about 1/1000.
To your point that they need him to contend, I find it laughable to think that the reigning AL champs (who only got better in the off-season) are relying on the arm of a 23 year old with almost no big league experience to get back there. He needs time in the minors to get his pitch counts up and just learn. One run in around nine spring innings (I assume you're familiar with the term "small sample size," and the fact that much of his outs have been against non big-leaguers) does not an ace make.
Nobody should have been drafting him with the hopes that he'd anchor a fantasy staff. He's a baby. Give him time.
Thought you might find this interesting... talking about the Rays' move:
The Rays will keep saying it's a baseball move, but Price is going down so that they can save money in three years. It seems like a ridiculous choice when the AL East seems likely to be so closely contended again. They can't even make the case that he was outpitched this spring, what with Jason Hammel sporting a 4.95 ERA and Jeff Niemann at 7.71. Price, who was held back intiially, allowed one run in 8 1/3 innings. This will serve to keep his innings count down, and Price may be a better pitcher in September as a result. However, if the Rays go 3-7 in the fifth starter's starts before Price comes up in late May or June, it might mean the difference between a playoff spot and spending October at home.
The Rays will keep saying it's a baseball move, but Price is going down so that they can save money in three years. It seems like a ridiculous choice when the AL East seems likely to be so closely contended again. They can't even make the case that he was outpitched this spring, what with Jason Hammel sporting a 4.95 ERA and Jeff Niemann at 7.71. Price, who was held back intiially, allowed one run in 8 1/3 innings. This will serve to keep his innings count down, and Price may be a better pitcher in September as a result. However, if the Rays go 3-7 in the fifth starter's starts before Price comes up in late May or June, it might mean the difference between a playoff spot and spending October at home.
I don't. It's written by somebody that clearly doesn't understand the whole picture. If either Niemann or Hammel were sent down, they'd be claimed immediately. There would be a line of teams willing to give them a big league job. They're both #4 starters at worst. Also, spring stats mean absolutely nothing. Nothing. Fuck, let's judge guys based on ridiculously small sample sizes and while facing inferior competition. Why don't we just give Carpenter and Buccholz the Cy Young now and not worry about the regular season.
That's right, Spring Training stats are meaningless. I don't know how much clearer I can be. I'll evaluate a guy based on how he pitches regarding what he's working on. Often times, guys go out and throw 80% change-ups, etc. Is it to try and win? No. It's to get their work in and refine mechanics, etc. I'm also not going to evaluate a guy based on how he pitches over 15-30 innings, be it in the spring, or in the playoffs. To do so is incredibly short-sighted and stupid. Incredibly fucking stupid - see my previous post regarding the Cy Young favorites.
You've also avoided the issues of Price not being ready, and the Rays not wanting to lose the other pitchers. You can't just gloss over that because Price's stats against AA players are better.
