NEW YORK — OK, you are officially allowed to hit the panic button on David Price.

We were holding off before Saturday. Price was, after all, 4-0, and there just seemed to be a few bad innings here and there. His career body of work, his poise, and the notion that we were dealing with a small sample were ample reason to hold hysteria at bay.

Not now. Price at this hour is in full Carl Crawford mode.

Crawford, of course, was the wildly talented Tampa Bay Ray who tortured the Red Sox for multiple seasons, then came to Boston and melted into a puddle of fear, paranoia, and insecurity. A prominent member of the Sox management team observed, “When he played against us — we hated him. When he played for us — we hated him.’’

And now there is David Price, the 30-year-old southpaw who has dominated American League batters since he left Vanderbilt and smothered the Terry Francona Red Sox in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series in 2008. In repudiation of John Henry’s beloved metrics and cost analysis, the Sox went out and threw bags of money at free agent Price after the 2015 season. They guaranteed him $217 million, making him the highest-paid pitcher in the history of major league baseball.

Acknowledging that the season is still very young, the Sox must be a tad concerned about their investment. Price at this moment is simply not the pitcher they bought. He’s not the guy who went 18-5 with a 2.45 ERA just last year. He is a guy who is no longer throwing in the mid-to-upper 90s. He is a guy with a 6.75 ERA after seven starts. Four of those seven starts have been downright ugly — all of them against American League East competition. He coughed up a lead four times.

“My first six or seven starts sucked,’’ Price said after Saturday’s 8-2 loss to the Yankees. “It’s not fun for me. I don’t enjoy it. I’ve got to get better.’’

Saturday in the Bronx, the Yankees — who rank 27th in the majors in runs per game — cuffed Price around for six runs on seven hits and three walks in 4? innings. Price was unable to put away the likes of Chase Headley (.151 entering the game), Didi Gregorius (.220), and Austin Romine (.263) at the bottom of the pitiful Yankee lineup. It was the same story when Price faced the erstwhile Bombers at Fenway last week (eight hits, six earned runs in seven innings).

“They bunched hits together,’’ said Sox manager John Farrrell. “He’d get to two strikes and had a lack of a putaway pitch.’’

The estimable Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the anemic Yanks have scored more than four runs against a lefty starter only twice in their last 23 tries, both times against David Price. The Globe’s intrepid Alex Speier reports that Price is throwing his four-seam fastball at 93 miles per hour, down from 95 last year. He’s been dreadful when pitching with runners in scoring position. Not to pile on, but Jon Lester has allowed ­only seven runs in six starts for the Cubs. The Red Sox, meanwhile, thus far do not have the pitcher they purchased.

Asked if Price is 100 percent healthy, both Price and Farrell answered in the affirmative.

Price had command issues Saturday (he was unhappy with plate umpire Chris Conroy) and struggled mightily through the middle frames. The immortal Gregorius reached him for a three-run double on an 0-and-2 changeup in the sixth and Carlos Beltran drove him from the game with a two-run double in the fifth.

The pitch to Gregorius was at the batter’s shoetops.

“That’s a good pitch,’’ insisted Price. “He went and got it. That’s a good piece of hitting.’’

Swell. But it’s Didi Gregorius. Why not vaporize him with heat?

Is Farrell concerned about the Sox’ high-Priced ace?

“No, because this is not health-related,’’ said the manager. “We’ve got work to do.’’

This awkward topic would be ­easier to tackle if Price’s slump was related to something physical. To hear Price say “I felt good,’’ and “I made some pretty good pitches in certain spots,’’ and “honestly, I felt good with everything — that’s a tough lineup,’’ makes veteran Sox watchers worry. Price is a thoughtful guy and that’s not always a good thing when you take the big money to play in Boston.

“I know I’m better than what I’m throwing right now,’’ said Price.

So what is different?

“I don’t know, honestly,’’ he answered. “It’s something I’ve got to figure out. I’ve always been able to make adjustments on the fly. I know how I can throw a baseball out there. It’s just not happening right now.’’

The Sox are coming home Monday and Price’s next start is scheduled for Thursday night at Fenway against Houston.

Unfortunate. The Sox should confiscate Price’s cellphone, TV, and car radio for the next few days. Sox sirens are calling and the noise of a restless Sox Nation is exactly what Price does not need to hear.

Dan Shaughnessy can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com.