Wednesday, August 12, 2015

James Shields Changed His Facebook Relationship Status to Available


It is well documented that the New York Yankees and their GM Brian Cashman stood pat at the July 31st trading deadline for the most part with Dustin Ackley as the team's only acquisition. While the Toronto Blue Jays basically sold their farm system away for a run at the World Series in 2015 the Yankees banked on the future and now these two teams are going in opposite directions. The Yankees seemingly comfortable lead is now all but gone while the Blue Jays haven't felt many losses since plugging Troy Tulowitzki into the shortstop position and lead off role and David Price into the top of the rotation depth chart. Yankees fans are already panicking but is the Yankees GM? He could be, especially after James Shields of the San Diego Padres just changed his relationship status on Facebook to "available."

I kid about the Facebook status obviously but Shields is still said to be available after clearing revocable waivers. San Diego can now trade the right-hander to any team for the remainder of the 2015 season without the consent of Mr. Big Game. It's not really a shock that Shields cleared waivers, he is owed $21 million in each of the 2016-2018 seasons, but is his contract too rich for the Yankees blood?

Well first thing is first, would he even be an upgrade inside the Yankees rotation? In a word, yes. CC Sabathia cannot be relied upon at this stage of the game but is this upgrade, marginal or substantial, worth the huge financial committment plus the prospects committment? If Shields wasn't pitching to a 4.21 FIP, 1.285 WHIP, 1.5 HR/9 ratio and just a 95 ERA+ I'd advocate for the Yankees to jump on the acquisition in a heart beat, but he is. 

You have to also keep in mind that Shields pitches his home starts inside Yellow Stone National Park, but the sponsors prefer us to call it Petco Park, which is substantially bigger than the dimensions inside Yankee Stadium. Shields may have a 3.75 ERA with the Padres but if you put him in a Yankees uniform, back in the American League East and inside Yankee Stadium you can add at least a run to that, a run or point to each of his peripherals and a lot more losses than his current 8-4 record showcases. Plus $21 million. Plus prospects. No thanks.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)