Baltimore Orioles eyeing James Shields?

Might the Baltimore Orioles consider making a move for San Diego’s James Shields?

According to Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumors, the Baltimore Orioles are one of a few teams that have spoken to the San Diego Padres about pitcher James Shields. The Orioles’ starting pitchers’ struggles are well-documented this spring, an there’s no question that Shields would be a great help to the team. He would also give the fan base a huge some peace of mind.

What the article fails to mention is what San Diego is asking in return. Just using some deductive reasoning here, but that tells me two things. First off it says that San Diego is probably asking for the moon and the stars for starters. However it also calls into question just how serious the trade talks are. Incidentally, Polishuk also says that the Boston Red Sox apparently have some interest in Shields – for whatever that’s worth.

The other bit is that Shields has an opt-out clause after this year – and we know

the Orioles’ stance on those. Whether or not Shields would exercise the clause is certainly unknown at this point – he’ll be 35 at the beginning of next year. He’s owed $21 million per year for the next three seasons.

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There’s a part of me that says Shields is much-needed for this team, and that he would be a good fit. Well, not necessarily “a part of me” is saying that – that’s pretty much a fact. Furthermore Shields’ body of work is well-known to Orioles fans; he’s pitched some great games against the Birds over the years. A presence like his would go a long way towards propping up the pitching staff and the entire team – in theory.

However I would advise Dan Duquette to proceed with extreme caution. First off, again I suspect that San Diego is going to look for a heavy return for Shields. Now in fairness, for all we know the Orioles might have the necessary pieces to make the deal through guys like Reimold, Avery, Hoes, or even Kim. The point is that you don’t want to gut your team just to aquire one player.

But there’s another reason I say to use extreme caution. The Orioles haven’t exactly had the greatest track record in trades of late – if you can believe that. They traded for Bud Norris, and while he had a great 2014 he was eventually DFA’d. Scott Feldman didn’t exactly work out the way they wanted, and the same is true of Geraldo Parra last year. 

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Now there will be folks out there who say that none of that means that a trade for Shields would end up being similar to that – and they’d be correct. However the reason that trades are risky is because it’s a total unknown quantity coming onto your team on the fly. Each of those aforementioned players were also deadling deals, and if the Orioles traded for Shields now they would still technically be doing so before the season started. (Whether or not he would even be able to break camp with the team at this point is another story – if the deal happened right at this moment, that is.)

At the end of the day while Shields would be a big asset if the trade worked out, that in and of itself is the key – the if the trade worked out bit. It’s a risk, and the fact is that the Birds have taken risks with a lot of decent minor leaguers over the years. One that did work out obviously was Andrew Miller in 2014, however as great of a trade as that was he ended up signing with New York after the season.

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Obviously the risk with Shields is that he’s ineffective, and/or that he opts out of his deal and hits the open market. Time will tell, however if the trade worked out it would also be a high reward. Either way, the good news for fans is that teams are still going to have to out-slug the Birds to beat them. And that’s going to be a tough task.