Padres, Shields seal A 4-Year Deal!

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The right-hander James Shields signed a 4 year deal to join the Padres team.

According to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo, Padres recently signed James Shields, the free agent right hander, for a 4-year contract worth $72-76 million. The deal is still not officially announced by Padres and is presumably pending a physical.

The exact terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. However when the deal becomes official it will make James Shields the first free agent to have signed a contract surpassing $50 million. It will also become the biggest contract ever offered by Padres to a player.

Shields (33 yrs.) also received many offers from different clubs this winter. Multiple teams were interested in enlisting Shields, most notably the Cubs and Marlins. A collection of previous coaches and team mates tried heavily to recruit Shield during the last few weeks.

Shields was the last major free agent starter to have signed in the 2014-2015 winter. A year ago Shields moved to Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego and the relocation might have been a factor in his decision for signing with Padres.

Shields retains a 9 years long Major league career and won 14 games. During his career he owned a lifetime 114-90 record. Since 2007 Shield has logged in more than 200 innings in every season. He currently posted a 3.21 ERA out of 34 starts in Kansas City the previous season and holds a record 3.72 ERA in 286 games of his career. He previously played with the club Rays from 2006-2012 and the Royals from 2013-2014.

Padres has been refurbishing its team and the signing of Shields is just another new development. The GM A.J. Preller had previously been given ‘financial flexibility’ in order to revamp the team pushing to a $105 million that was a franchise record in itself. Preller for his part recruited Will Myers, Matt Kemp, Will Middlebrooks and Derek Norris and Shields seems to be the cherry on top of the new team haul.

Baseball critics, analysts and fans alike have given an overwhelmingly positive response to the acquisition of Shields by the Padres. Twitter is ablaze with anticipation and #Padres is a new trending topic, focusing chiefly on Padres’ purchase of Shield. Baseball crooners all over the US are eagerly waiting to watch Shields play for Padres in the new season.