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          Red Sox Report

          As David Price vents on Twitter, Chris Sale shuts out the noise

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          • Scott Lauber, ESPN Staff WriterDec 7, 2016, 08:50 PM
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              Scott Lauber covers the Boston Red Sox for ESPN.com.
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          NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- If David Price didn't already know that his career 0-8 record as a starter in the postseason elicits strong feelings from Boston Red Sox fans, a little birdie could have told him.

          Price has a Twitter account (@DAVIDprice24) and isn't afraid to use it. He follows more than 1,800 people, has 1.64 million followers, and has tweeted more than 15,000 times. He interacts with friends, fellow athletes, even fans, and lately the ace lefty with the $217 million contract has taken several not-so-subtle jabs at critics of his string of postseason duds, the latest of which came two months ago in Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Cleveland Indians.

          A sampling of Price's recent tweets:

          And from his honeymoon:

          If you didn't know better, you would think Price is obsessed.

          "That shows you his personality, that he can still provide light in a situation like that, where he's being obviously crushed on social media," said Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman, Price's friend and former teammate. "But he really is just focused on the positive, and he's able to just take everything and kind of spin it to a good way."

          And that's where Price and his new Red Sox co-ace diverge. The only spin Chris Sale cares about is the rotation of his slider.

          In a conference call Wednesday, Sale claimed he isn't one to Google articles about himself or read coverage in the newspaper. Several journalists who have covered Sale said Wednesday that friends and family will often make the lefty aware of things written or said about him, but he will rarely seek it out. Twitter? Sale doesn't have an account and -- sorry, Red Sox fans -- isn't planning to start one.

          "I'm really more focused on the between-the-lines stuff," said Sale, who got his share of negative attention in July when he petulantly cut up Chicago White Sox throwback jerseys because he didn't want to wear one. "That's what I signed up for. That's what I look forward to. That's what I live for, playing the game of baseball. Everything else, it'll take care of itself. It'll shake out."

          To each his own. But in a market like Boston, where two daily newspapers and two sports-radio stations cater to a fan base that has a white-hot passion about professional sports, Sale's approach is probably healthier than Price's.

          Tuning out the external noise can only help an athlete concentrate on the things that matter most. Preparation and performance are more important than perception, and if Sale, Price or any other high-profile athlete gets too wrapped up in the latter, the former are bound to suffer.

          In fairness, there isn't clear evidence to suggest Price was adversely affected by the negativity he encountered last season. When he struggled before the All-Star break, he tended to be his own harshest critic, and prior to his playoff loss, he put together a 14-start run in which he went 8-2 with a 3.24 ERA.

          “To be honest with you, we never talk about it,” Stroman said of Price’s postseason record. “I just think it’s one of those things -- it’s a coincidence. He’s an unbelievable pitcher. However you look at it, you can’t take away from what he’s done in his career. One thing I’ve learned about David, his mentality never changes. I can never tell. Even when I talk to him face to face, you couldn’t tell if he struck out 13 or had a bad game.”

          But the fact that Price would interrupt his honeymoon to fire off a snarky tweet about his postseason failures is proof that he hears the chatter and, on some level, it bothers him.

          To hear Sale tell it, at least, obliviousness is bliss.

          "I'm not a big media guy," Sale said. "I don't have Twitter. I'm not going to be reading as much about everything as probably the next guy."

          It’s OK. Chances are Price will fill him in.