Tampa Bay Rays traded ace lefthander David Price to the Detroit Tigers just minutes before Thursday’s 4 p.m. Eastern non-waiver deadline, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports and MLB Network. It is a three-team trade also involving the Seattle Mariners, who acquired Tigers centerfielder Austin Jackson in the deal.
Price has spent his entire seven-year career with the Rays, who drafted him first overall out of Vanderbilt in 2007. He closed out the 2008 American League Championship Series as a relief pitcher and emerged as an ace in 2010, when he finished second in the AL Cy Young race. Price won the award two years later, going 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA. He is 11-8 with a 3.11 ERA this season and a major-league-best 189 strikeouts.
Jackson, Detroit’s starting centerfielder since arriving as part of a different three-team blockbuster trade with the Diamondbacks and Yankees in December 2009, was removed from the Tigers’ game with the Chicago White Sox to cheers from the crowd at Comerica Park.