Dear Jeff Passan,

I will, using all my Canadian politeness and mild-tempered nature, refrain from calling you an idiot.

A huge part of me really wants to—in fact, that’s how I started this letter. But that would really be rude, and I certainly don’t want to be rude. I’ll leave that to you.

You’re not even an athlete, but you’ve upset me enough to pen this on a late night when I should be listening to sad Korean ballads and drifting to sleep in an effort to numb the searing pain of the Jays’ season coming to an end. I’m at peace with how the season ended- despite questionable calls and interference from a young man with a tendency to fib whose neckbeard will be reviled for years to come, I’m very proud of how the boys brought meaningful October baseball to a whole nation for the first time in a really long time.

What we could have done without, however, was the “controversy” around the use of Price in the postseason, one stirred up from nothing more than your interesting imagination and unfortunately cast a dark shadow on his great relationship with the Jays for no apparent reason.

I’m not sure I’ve seen so much reaching from a writer who isn’t a casual commenter on a second-tier fanblog in a really long time. You reached so far with your article on the Blue Jays’ alleged misuse of David Price today I’m surprised your arm is still stitched intact to the rest of your body.

Oh, I’m sorry, that’s what you were insinuating about David Price’s arm, wasn’t it? Portraying the Jays’ ace as a puppet being played by the evil marionette masters behind the scenes, “muzzled” and utterly unable to defend himself while his arm is repeatedly abused.

Your evidence? The most extreme, laughable overinterpretation of a response consisting of the single word “Sure” I’ve witnessed in my entire lifespan, which happens to coincide with the playoff drought David Price has helped my hometown team out of.

I’m not sure what has become of journalistic standards, but I had never thought conjectures were the basis of articles from national news outlets. I’m not criticizing you just because you work for Yahoo!—in fact, I interned there and wrote for them during college, and had a good experience talking to the likes of Wysh and other sports writers there. I’m saddened by the nosedive in integrity of the content put out by Yahoo! in an attempt to create buzz and attract eyeballs (a sentiment much reflected in comments on articles such as this highlighting the company’s demise)—sensationalistic journalism like this, I thought, was reserved for OK!, not Yahoo!, and it particularly peeves me when it involves one of my favourite players, one who’s openly expressed his fondness for the city and its fans. Just when Toronto has a good thing going on, when our players actually seem to like us, you have to go and tear down the goodwill we’ve built.

Without further ado, let’s breakdown the proof points you used in your column.

Exhibit A: “For now, all he offers are clipped retorts, far from the general ebullience that is perhaps his most recognizable trait. Price sounds confused. He has every right to be that, and angry, too, at how the Blue Jays have turned their best pitcher into a dancing marionette.”

Your chronic misuse of quotes to justify your argument begins in the first paragraph, when you try to use the fact that Price’s responses have been “clipped retorts” to suggest that he is dissatisfied with the way the Jays have used him this postseason.

I give “clipped retorts” when I’m hungry and want to head for lunch. I give “clipped retorts” when the answer to a question is simple. Heck, I give “clipped retorts” when I didn’t really understand the question.

The fact that Price deviated from his “general ebullience” is by no means a claim that he is “confused” or “angry.” Ebullience is one of my favourite words and one often used to describe myself (which makes it even worse that you’ve slandered its grandeur in such a context). I’m allowed to give one-word answers without people accusing me of being confused and angry—sometimes, I just want to answer in one word. Okay? Okay.

Exhibit B: “When asked whether it acted like a bullpen session, Price offered a tepid retort: ‘Sure.’”

Jesus Christ, I really need to ask— is there anything remotely wrong with how Price responded there? Oh my god, he only responded with “Sure!” This guy is about to throw something at me, let’s clear way. /s

It’s very questionable whether “Sure” is even a clipped retort at all—it’s merely a one-word answer you for some reason interpreted in a negative light by shoving the label of “clipped retort” upon it.

He gave an affirmative answer to a question. Did you expect him to add ebullience while responding to such a simple question? “Sure, I mean yeah, it’s true, haha, yeah, I love bullpen sessions, jolly good fun, wouldn’t you say, y’all?”

So, yeah. “Sure” seems like a perfectly fine response to me.

Exhibit C: “Here’s the reality: Price doesn’t throw bullpens between starts, and if he did, his regular opportunity would have come Monday.”

Actually, the general consensus is Price does throw bullpen starts, though not always. Take this quote from a recent NBC Sports article-

“Rosenthal notes that Price didn’t throw his usual bullpen session on Saturday after the team arrived in Texas.”

Or this one from a Deadspin piece from July 2015 when Price was still with the Tigers-

“Yesterday was a throw day for David Price, and with the Tigers on the road in Seattle he used the visiting bullpen at Safeco Field.”

The words “usual bullpen session” and “throw day” are pretty self-explanatory—I’m not sure where you are getting your information from. So, as most other outlets reported, Wednesday would have acted as a de-facto throwing session. The minute details of Price’s pitching routine are not public knowledge, and he has suggested recently he usually doesn’t throw between starts, but completely eliminating the possibility of him ever throwing side sessions is bad practice and misleading.

I continued with your column, searching for actual quotes to back up your claim. I found this.

Exhibit D: “This is a unique scenario in which the puppet master pulled an unnecessary string and the puppet accommodated.

‘I feel good. I’m ready to go,’ David Price said, and go he will, for real this time, the biggest start of his career and the biggest for the Blue Jays since 1993.”

I’m sorry, but how does this even make any sense? Here’s what we see that we can verify- the Jays asked Price to pitch in from the bullpen, and Price has shown nothing but a positive and willing attitude to do whatever it takes to win. So yes, the Jays made an ask, and Price accommodated. There’s been no indication that there’s any discord here, yet you bring up the puppet master analogy, and follow it immediately by a positive quote from Price?

The lack of fact-checking and logical flow in this column is frankly embarrassing. Price himself responded immediately via Twitter and comments in a press conference, and while I still can’t get over the fact that David freaking Price had to respond to your pathetic piece, his words say it all:

Haha media is funny..never said I was mad or upset about anything that’s gone on in the playoffs!! And stop twisting my words around..cheers — David Price (@DAVIDprice14) October 22, 2015

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He continued in his press conference (with an ebullient smile, I might add, laughing that this is even an issue) when asked about his Tweet in response to your article—

“I’m not upset with the how things have transpired throughout the playoffs,” he said. “The situation that we’ve been in, we’re a man down in the pen, especially with Cecil going down, our main left-handed pitcher out there, and Lupe is out with whatever’s going on with him right now, so we don’t have a leftie in the pen, and I completely understand that, I get it. And at this point in the season, you’ve gotta be ready for whatever. If I would have gotten in that game yesterday, I’m sure Stroman would have pitched game 6 and I would have been ready for game 7.”

Those are David Price’s words, things he actually said, quotes that don’t need to be interpreted fourteen levels beyond for a hidden meaning. He continued–

“There’s good communication, they definitely keep me in the loop with what could happen, the type of situation when I could be in a game, and I’m open for that.”

So that’s that. Maybe one of the good things about your profile being high enough for the column to gain national attention is it gives a chance for the person whose words were twisted to respond directly. Everyone from fans, fellow players, and journalists have the highest level of respect for Price, and deservedly so—Marcus Stroman called him “one of the best human beings [he’s] ever been around in [his] life, on and off the field.” Your article may have come from a similar place, an attempt to guess what a great teammate and penultimate professional is thinking deep inside—your piece, however, ends up discrediting the selflessness he is known for and displays in what he said in response to your article. You certainly did not give him enough credit for what’s helped him build the reputation he has today.

I’m inclined to take Price’s words at face value because there’s nothing to suggest we shouldn’t, and nothing for me to ground any other conjectures on. Would he respond with “absolutely” (another one-word answer, one I don’t believe even your overactive imagination can make something else out of) when asked if he would resign with the Blue Jays? The season is over, and the puppet is free to speak- and he spoke in favor of the Jays.

A look at your Tweets is very revealing of which team you side with—that’s fine, and obviously I cheer for a different team, but I’m not a national sports columnist for a major news outlet. You are, so please stop writing like a smalltown beat reporter or local fanblog.

Good journalists will acknowledge and make the clear distinction between what they can prove, what they know, and what is only conjecture. Baseball fans certainly don’t appreciate your biased, inaccurate, baseless journalism, a thoughtless piece that could throw an unnecessary and unfounded damper on an otherwise wonderful few months between a great ball club and a great pitcher.

It’s not really the fact that David Price could be remotely upset that is making me upset; it’s the fact that you’d suggest it without any facts to back you up. If you want to make conjectures on what people are feeling, please, go write fanfiction. Would you be better at it than actual, substantial, unbiased journalism? Sure.