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David Price's 2014 Comments On Cubs Are Worth Remembering

(CBS) The general manager meetings get underway Monday in Boca Raton, Fla., marking the start of serious free agency talk and progress, if not movement in the form of signings yet.

Atop the free-agent class this offseason is David Price, the 30-year-old left-hander and five-time All-Star who's proved to be durable and one of baseball's best arms for the last six years. Coming off a season in which he went 18-5 with a 2.45 ERA, Price is expected to command a contract that commands around $30 million annually over the course of six to seven years.

Already, the Cubs have been linked as a favorite to land Price, who played for Chicago manager Joe Maddon while the two were in Tampa Bay together from 2008 until Price was traded midseason in 2014.

Where Price will sign is, obviously, speculation at this point. What's fact is that Price has already spoken highly of the Cubs, when in July 2014 at All-Star festivities he talked of what it would mean for Chicago to win a championship. At the time, the Cubs were mired in another last-place season, and there was no inclination that Maddon would be managing them in 2015, because he wasn't expected to be a free agent manager until executive Andrew Friedman left the Rays, triggering an opt-out clause for Maddon.

"Winning absolutely is something you want to do," Price told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch back then. "Being a part of something special is also something you want to do. You can take that to a first-place team. You could take that all the way to a last-place team like the Cubs. With the talent they have coming up they could be a very special team in a few years as well. That would probably be the coolest city to win a championship in. They haven't done it in I'm not sure how long. To do that there that would be the coolest city to win a championship in right now."

Understandably, Price hasn't commented much directly about the Cubs since. He was busy helping the Blue Jays make a playoff push and get to the ALCS.

But in the next month-plus, we should find out whether Price will be a part of the Cubs' future and quest to win that championship.

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