James Shields is the last remaining big name on the free agent market as pitchers and catchers are set to report to their respective teams at the end of February. The starting pitcher has been holding out for a long-term, big-money offer from a team and so far has yet to ink a deal. At this point, it is really unclear if any team is targeting the star of the Kansas City Royals right now, but one thing he can expect is not to return to his former team.
According to Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star, the Royals are not interested in bringing back Shields and "haven't discussed Shields for a while now." Right now, Kansas City wants a draft pick for his departure, but are not going to yield to his contract demands.
There have been reports that Shields was originally offered a contract that would pay him $110 million over five years and it was rejected. According to Yahoo! Sports, the more realistic contract offer for Shields is likely a four-year deal in the range of $70 to $80 million. It is being reported that Shields has multiple offers on the table at the moment and is expected to make a decision by the end of the week. Teams like the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres have tossed their name into the hat for the pitcher while the New York Yankees are making it clear they are not interested.
As the league's biggest spenders, many believed Shields and the Yankees were a perfect fit. However, Joel Sherman of the New York Post is reported the team is not interested in meeting the demands of the pitcher right now. The Yankees are likely done making moves to their pitching rotation. Along with CC Sabathia, the team will get back a healthy Ivan Nova and Masahiro Tanaka who missed portions of last season. Given the contract and decline to Sabathia, the Yankees have no interest in signing an aging pitcher to a big contract anymore.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the likely landing spot could be to the Cardinals. St. Louis was connected to both Jon Lester and Max Scherzer when they were available, but opted not to give them a deal. The Cardinals rotation needs some stability as both Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha have dealt with lingering injuries. The question becomes whether or not the team will meet the high contract demands or not.
