Say hey, baseball: James Shields is going to get paid

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The James Shields’ market has been very quiet, which is surprising. Initially, it seemed as if he would sign shortly after Jon Lester did, and that now happened a month ago at the winter meetings. It’s now 2015, though, and Shields remains available. From the sounds of it, though, he’s still going to get paid. Ken Rosenthal reports that it’s believed Shields already has a five-year, $110 million offer in hand, and that “a number of executives” have told him they think Shields will end up with at least five years and $100 million. Yes, he already received an offer over that amount, but it doesn’t mean it’s from someone Shields wants to play for, or have we already forgotten the lesson of Chase Headley?

We don’t know who gave Shields this offer, but we can figure out who did not, at least to a degree. The Giants are out on Shields (as well as Max Scherzer) and seem to be focusing on acquiring Ben Zobrist as their next major upgrade. Rosenthal says the Marlins and Diamondbacks are out on Shields given the expected price. The Red Sox are “highly unlikely” to sign Shields since they have five starters already, but given two of those have huge question marks and one is Joe Kelly, that is likely a negotiating ploy meant to get Shields to sign for less than he wants if the opportunity presents itself. Say, if no one else besides the team whose offer he hasn’t bothered taking is willing to give him $100 million and five years, either.

Are we going to have to wait for Scherzer to sign before Shields agrees to a deal? It seems unlikely, given they are in completely different price brackets thanks to Shields already being 33 years old: Scherzer is legitimately looking for twice as much money as Shields. It all depends on whether it’s Shields’ camp or a hopeful team that cracks first, though, so this could end up dragging on for quite a bit longer if no one blinks.