MLB report:
Have the White Sox jump-started the pitching trade market by acquiring James Shields?
The Chicago White Sox knew the standard protocol was to wait six weeks, deciding what to do much closer to the trade deadline.
They couldn’t afford to stay patient.
They knew that summer might offer the worst inventory of available starting pitching at the trade deadline in decades.
A year ago, the likes of David Price, Johnny Cueto, Cole Hamels, Mike Leake, Scott Kazmir, Alex Wood and J.A. Happ were traded in July.
This year, the market is so ugly that 36-year-old Rich Hill of the Oakland Athletics could be the best of the bunch. Perhaps by a long shot.
So the White Sox feared if they waited any longer, after losing 17 of their last 23 games, they could be out of the race by the time the Aug. 1 deadline rolled around.
So they kick-started the market, buying low on struggling San Diego Padres starter James Shields, a move that might prove impetuous or incredibly forwardlooking.
The White Sox gave up two fringe prospects in pitcher Erik Johnson and shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and are paying just $27 million of the remaining $61 million owed on Shields’ contract. If Shields pitches great down the stretch and decides to opt out of his contract, the White Sox are on the hook for only $5 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. He spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly divulge financial details.
Shields, 2-7 with a 4.28 ERA this year, is no longer the ace who led the Kansas City Royals to their first pennant in 29 years in 2014. Yet he’s the only pitcher in the major leagues who has pitched at least 200 innings the last two seasons, stretching to nine his streak of 200 innings-plus seasons. He’s back in the American League Central, where he went 27-17 with a 3.18 ERA over 2013 and 2014, and no longer is needed to carry a staff.
“He has proven he can be an elite starter in the American League historically, but that’s not necessarily what we’re asking of him,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “With the way our rotation sets up for the next few years, we just need him to be a nice, stabilizing presence in the middle of it. He has a very long track record of durability and performance.”
Good luck finding that in this year’s emaciated trade market.
It’s no wonder that the New York Yankees, if they’re out of the race, might be sellers for the first time since 1989, when they traded Rickey Henderson to the Oakland Athletics and Mike Pagliarulo to the Padres.
Yankees starters Nathan Eovaldi and Michael Pineda, who are a year away from free agency, could be available. If the Yankees are not in striking distance of first place by Aug. 1 — and at 26-30, their most compelling race might be with the Tampa Bay Rays to avoid the cellar — they will have every contender calling about their relief power trio of Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances.
You don’t think Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs — and almost every other contender — won’t salivate at the thought of having one of them anchor their bullpen in October?
“Frankly, we felt (pitching) was going to be fairly difficult to address in the coming weeks leading up to the trade deadline,” Hahn said. “Given the supply and demand out there, we felt it was an important one to move on early.”
This is what the San Francisco Giants feared when they grabbed Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija in last winter’s free agent market, spending $220 million.
It has worked nearly to perfection, as the Giants are 27-9 in games started by Madison Bumgarner, Samardzija and Cueto.
The Cubs, without a homegrown starter, rebuilt their rotation by acquiring free agents Jon Lester and John Lackey the last two winters, which would leave their rotation intact through at least 2017 when ace Jake Arrieta is eligible for free agency.
It’s little wonder the Padres, who are 23-34 this season after going 74-88 in 2015 following a trade and free agent spree, are so popular. Starters Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross — the latter trying to come back from an inflamed shoulder — and the entire San Diego bullpen are available. Of course, so are high-priced outfielders Matt Kemp and Melvin Upton Jr.
“We haven’t been good enough the last year and a half as a group, as a team, as an organization,” Padres GM A.J. Preller said. “We talk about it a lot.”
Those talks have always been kept private.
Padres executive chairman Ron Fowler went public. He blasted his players, calling them “miserable failures,” on the team flagship station, The Mighty 1090, three days before the trade.
“We rolled the dice on some major league signings, major league trades,” Fowler told host Dan Sileo. “We collectively have to look at that and say it didn’t come together as well as we wanted.”
The Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels soon might be singing in the same choir, hoping to know by August whether they are contenders or are simply fooling themselves. The White Sox jumped in first. We might not have to wait long to know who’s next.