Toronto Blue Jays president/CEO Mark Shapiro was blunt when discussing the team's decision not to re-sign David Price this offseason.

"Every team has a budget," Shapiro told MLB Network Radio. "Every team has operating parameters. I don't know why it's not fashionable to just say the truth. David Price would've represented almost our entire offseason. It's that simple, Jim.

"Almost no one would make that decision. ... To me, it comes down to we had a very, very, very challenging pitching dilemma here in that we lost him, we lost [Marco] Estrada. We had zero Triple-A pitchers -- not one, not a name to fill our rotation in Triple-A. We had to take the money, which was ample, and figure out how to both solve the Major League rotation, which was two spots in the rotation, along with solving a depth challenge. ... Regardless of how great one pitcher is, you need to build a team around the guy, too."

Price signed a seven-year, $217 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.