Another major free agency splash happened in the baseball world today as the Boston Red Sox signed lefty ace David Price to a seven-year, $217 million contract according to Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. The deal will pay Price $31 million a year, has no deferred money and also gives him the option to opt out after three years, meaning Boston could end up paying just $93 million, but the team can and will regret this signing regardless of how things play out.

Keep in mind, that is NOT to say that Price is not worth the money by any stretch of the imagination. At just 30 years old, Price has established himself as one of the most dominant pitchers in the game and has built a strong career resume with the Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays since debuting in 2008. He owns a career record of 104-56 with a 3.09 ERA and has struck out 1,372 batters while making five All-Star teams and winning the American League Cy Young Award in 2012.

Price also finished second in AL Cy Young voting this year after going 18-5 with a 2.45 ERA on the year, and his 9-1 record and 2.30 ERA after being traded from Detroit to Toronto almost singlehandedly helped the Blue Jays back to the postseason for the first time since 1993. If there's any player that was going to get a deal of this magnitude this offseason, it was Price.

But consider this. Despite his strong regular season performance, Price has largely underachieved in the postseason. He has a career postseason record of 2-7 and a 5.12 ERA across 14 postseason appearances, eight of which he started, and both of those wins came in relief. Playing in the hyper-competitive AL Eastern Division, home to teams like the New York Yankees, aforementioned Blue Jays and Rays and also the Baltimore Orioles as well as the Red Sox, the mentality from start to finish is often World Series or bust, especially in Boston.

It also doesn't help that the team already has multiple terrible contracts on the books, as third baseman Pablo Sandoval is due $70 million over the next four years after batting just .245 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in an injury-riddled first season in Boston. Hanley Ramirez hit 19 home runs with 53 RBI last year, but his batting average was just .249 and he played in only 105 games. He is due another $88 million over the next four seasons.

The numbers don't continue to get better in the pitching rotation, with Rick Porcello due another $81 million after going 9-15 with a 4.92 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. Throw in Price's contract, and President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski is picking up right where he left off in Detroit in doling out bad deal after bad deal.

Look at it this way. Last year, with all the bad contracts on the books, Boston's payroll was just under $183.3 million and the team won 78 games. That means each win cost $2.35 million. Compare that to the reigning world champion Kansas City Royals, who paid just $1.35 million per win, and it's easy to see the problems with the financials.

Add Price's contract to next year's payroll, with arbitration NOT factored in yet, and Boston will be paying its players currently under contract a grand total of $183 million, and that number is likely going to go up.

And over the next 24 hours, just watch as Price's name is mentioned along with that of Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who became MLB's first $30 million a year man when he signed a seven-year, $215 million extension prior to the 2014 season. Kershaw, like Price, is also a dominant left-handed pitcher, but he is on a completely different level, consistently posting sub-3 ERAs and sometimes going sub-2. At just 27 years old, he has a career mark of 114-56, has a career ERA of 2.43 and has three NL Cy Young Awards.

It should also be noted that, like Price, Kershaw has not performed well in the playoffs. In 13 postseason games, he is 2-6 with a 4.59 ERA. The key difference is that unlike the Red Sox, the Dodgers' future is bright enough that they could easily win a World Series in the next couple of years.

Boston is not in that position, at least on paper, and that is why the team will come to regret this deal unless Price leads them to a championship over the first three years of his deal. Playing in a home-run friendly stadium like Fenway Park, however, and given how prone a fast-ball pitcher like Price is to the longball, that redefines overly optimistic.

Thus, given how lengthy contracts given to guys like Justin Verlander (six years, $162 million) and CC Sabathia (eight years, $186 million) have panned out, don't be at all surprised if Price's deal turns out to be a dog.