It's been a busy offseason down in San Diego as the Padres add another piece to the revamped roster.
The Padres have signed right-handed pitcher James Shields to a four-year, $75 million deal, including a club option for a fifth year. Both sides have verbally agreed to terms, and an official announcement will come this week, pending a physical.
A San Diego native, Shields will provide a relatively young Padres team stability and veteran leadership in their rotation. Since 2007, the 33-year-old has yet to miss the 200-inning mark in any single season, while logging a total of 1,785 innings, the most in the majors during that span. For his career, Shields has accumulated 31.6 fWAR over nine full seasons in the big leagues thanks to a 3.72 FIP.
Shields is expected to anchor a Padres rotation that includes Ian Kennedy, Tyson Ross, and Andrew Cashner. The former Ray and Royal will also join a list of known commodities who have arrived in San Diego this offseason, including Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, and Derek Norris, as general manager A.J. Preller looks to turn a Padres team that ranked dead last in the majors last season in runs scored into a contender.
We profiled Shields back in Novemeber and wrote in January that either he or Max Scherzer would make sense for the pitching-rich Mets—if only the team were money-rich, too.