David Price recently underwent a MRI after experiencing some “intense” soreness in his left elbow and now has announced that he will seek a second opinion by renowned doctor James Andrews.  Clearly all alarm bells are ringing as typically James Andrews is only brought into the equation when Tommy John surgery is on the table.  If so, Price will miss the entire 2017 season and likely portions of 2018.

There is yet to be official word on what the first opinion was.  For now the Red Sox will have to prepare for the worst and that likely means leaning on Eduardo Rodriguez and/or Steven Wright (who isn’t a terrible fall back option.)  The Sox have some serious depth at starting pitching, but even with all that depth, you can’t easily replace the loss of someone like Price.

Price, 31, is going into the second year of a seven-year, $217 million contract with Boston. Last season, he pitched to a 3.99 ERA and 4.56 K/BB ratio in a major-league leading 230 innings. For his career, he owns an ERA+ of 124 across parts of nine big-league seasons. Price has also been a remarkably durable pitcher throughout most of his career. He’s registered at least 200 innings in six of the last seven seasons.