The Boston Red Sox have agreed to a seven-year, $217 million deal with left-handed starting pitcher David Price, according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. The deal between the Red Sox and Price involves an opt-out clause after the 2018 season, which would be after the third contact year, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported.

It was made known that the Red Sox would pick up a number one starting pitcher, but it was not made evident that the team would snag arguably the best pitcher on the market this early in the offseason. New Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski locked up one of the best with a record setting contract.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the St. Louis Cardinals finished runner-up in the sweepstakes for Price. Even though the Cardinals did not lock up Price; it shows that general manager John Mozeliak is hunting for a huge deal and will eventually bring in a superstar this offseason.

The monster deal is the seventh-largest in baseball history and the most ever for a pitcher. Clayton Kershaw was the prior leader after he signed a $215 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014. The $31 million annual value for Price might not hold the record for long because starting pitcher Zack Greinke could bring home a bigger deal over about five or six years. Right now, the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are the front runners for Greinke. 

He will pitch alongside Clay Buchholz, Wade Miley and Rick Porcello, but the rest of the rotation has not been set in stone. There are multiple young names like Henery Ownens and Brian Johnson in the mix for two open spots. Nevertheless, Price will help anchor down a rotation that was sub-par in 2015 and horrid in 2014. 

Price was the first pick in the 2007 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt. He was pushed right into the rotation as he made his Big League debut just over a year later with the Tampa Bay Rays. 

The Tennessee native was the ace for the Rays for seven seasons before being dealt to the Detroit Tigers. With Tampa Bay, Price went 82-47 with a 3.18 ERA over 1,143.2 innings pitched.

The 30-year-old spent the end of the 2014 and the beginning of 2015 in the Motor City before being traded for the second time in his career. Price put up 13 wins for Detroit with a 2.90 ERA over 223.2 innings pitched, which was even better than he logged in Tampa Bay. 

It was the Toronto Blue Jays who found themselves with the lefty after a Trade Deadline move between the Blue Jays and Tigers to send Price to Canada. Price pitched 11 games in Toronto and owned a 9-1 record with a 2.30 ERA, which helped push them to the postseason. 

Price has now made the move to the East Coast of the United States. The 2015 All-Star, who finished second in 2015 American League Cy Young voting, will look to take the Red Sox back to the postseason after a horrendous 71-91 record in 2014 and 78-84 record in 2015, which both did not qualify for the playoffs. 

The Red Sox will have a press conference on Friday at Fenway Park to introduce David Price.