Padres On “Periphery” for James Shields

After upgrading the offense several times over, the Padres greatest pitching addition thus far has been…uh… Brandon Maurer?  A.J. Preller has also added Brandon Morrow, Shawn Kelley, and re-signed Josh Johnson.  They aren’t the most exciting names, but when Cory Luebke hopefully coming back from injury is added into the mix, the starting rotation situation seems pretty good. 

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But the Padres have yet to add a big name as they have done on offense.  A $30 million per year contract to Max Scherzer was never in the realm of possibility.  Now that Scherzer has inked with Washington, attention has fallen on James Shields.  According to Ken Rosenthal, the Padres are not a top candidate to sign Shields:

The Padres have a foot in the door, but other teams are in the room.  This is great news for the Friars. Not because they have a chance to sign Shields, but because they aren’t a major competitor.  Signing Shields would indeed go with the win-now mentality.  “Big-Game” James (who has a lifetime postseason ERA of 5.46) will be entering his age-33 season.  He will be officially out of his prime years.  But wouldn’t the Petco effect outweigh his aging?  He pitched in Kansas City for the past two years.  Kaufman is one of the best pitcher’s parks in baseball.  Shields likely has two good years left in him and he wants a four or five-year deal.  The Padres have a tight budget?  Do you want them to pay an aging pitcher the money he is likely commanding?  I would say no.

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