Here’s a look at the NL West:
- With pitching costs rising around baseball, Jeff Sanders of U-T San Diego wonders if James Shields’ contract is now movable.  Shields is owed $65MM through 2018 and San Diego probably can’t find a taker for all of it, but they could potentially find a match if they’re willing to eat some of that salary.  In a market where Mike Leake scored $16MM/year with a career 4.21 FIP, it’s not inconceivable that a match could be found for Shields.
- On Christmas Eve, Jim Duquette of MLB.com suggested a trio of trades that, in his opinion, make too much sense not to happen.  Among the deals is a swap between the Dodgers and Rays that would send Jake Odorizzi and Brad Boxberger to Los Angeles.  Odorizzi would give the Dodgers a strong middle-of-the-rotation arm while Boxberger would give them a solid power arm to go along with Kenley Jansen in the bullpen.  The price, of course, wouldn’t be cheap.  Duquette sees the Rays targeting a package featuring left-hander Julio Urias, righty Jose DeLeon, and second baseman Micah Johnson, plus some other mid-level prospects.
- The Padres have a mess on their hands as a “mentally ill man” took legal title to Petco Park by filing out a deed transfer, as David Garrick of U-T San Diego writes.  The man, Derris Devon McQuaig, cannot truly claim ownership to the building, but he can create a hassle for others. “I don’t think in any way it would be deemed credible because it’s pretty clearly just a ‘wild deed’ that has no legal sufficiency,” Olson said. “But it could cause headaches for someone down the road.”
The padres would have to eat shields contract
Tastes good on the bun
Maybe the crazy guy would buy it.
I’d prefer to say of the looney.. Only in California, but that has changed the last several years and would be better described in a political arena instead and class, which is best left off of these boards.
Pirates should take it.
Yes, they could use “Petco park”
Dodgers need Shields
They would just have to exchange his contract for another problem contract like with Texas for Andrus.
Red Sox should trade Hanley Ramirez and a couple low tier prospects to the Padres in exchange for James Shields. We need a right handed pitcher, they need a bat. It would be a swap of bad contracts.
Aside from the fact that Hanley is likely to be on the books for a year longer, there’s the little detail that while Shields was mediocre last year, Hanley was awful.
Expecting anything other than the gap between Shields and Ramirez to continue to widen in the next three years would be foolhardy.
Urias & De Leon seems like far too high an asking price for Odorizzi. Those are two of the best pitching prospects in baseball right now. I don’t see Urias being moved unless it is for a legitimate #1/#2 type like Carrasco. For Odorizzi, a package around De Leon, Holmes, Bellinger and Johnson seems more reasonable.
If parting with Urias AND De Leon is necessary to acquire Odorizzi, I’d pass. Could get James Shields giving up far less talent, just requiring money.
You are forgetting that Brad Boxberger is a top of the line reliever making the minimum and under team control for the next couple of years
LOL Boxberger is so overrated.
It’s probably a little low in value to get an MLB closer and an MLB starter. That is why they are saying Urias, DeLeon, Johnson and several other mid-level prospects.
Jim Duquette is out of his mind! Dodgers are better of keeping the prospects.
Agreed way too much
Yea I agree because there is no way the Dodgers would trade a package of Urias and De Leon
I bet they would of sonny gray or Chris sale was available
maybe 🙂
Maybe one of them with a lower end prospect but not both
Lol no way the Dodgers give that up for that trash return. Jake is not even that big of an upgrade to Wood and he wants us to give up DeLeon and Julio for that this guy is out of his mind no this is not a move there is no reason the Dodgers should not do it
A full point if ERA is not that big of an upgrade? Are you serious? Its more than 3 wins per season.
And a proven MLB closer?
You overvalue your prospects WAY too much.
Dead on.
Jim Duquette is just not very smart.
If he was any smarter he’d own Petco Park,
Don’t go all ballistic saying he’s out of his mind like the deal actually happened. Just wait and see. I doubt he gives up both De Leon AND Urias, though what shouldn’t surprise you is a deal built on ONE of them. Pitching really isn’t cheap as we are being reminded of.
Dodgers need shields with Grienke gone
nah
Now we know why Jim is no longer employed as a GM. Trading Kazmir for Victor Z was enough to convince the industry they were better off without him. And he’s even more free with trading other teams’ prospects.
Mentally ill or trying to exploit a loophole?
The article says the judge in the criminal case against the dude declared him as such. And I would think that the guy has to be a real psycho for the judge to do that because if he was remotely sane then they could have gone forth with the case and convicted him of fraud, which is obviously the standard outcome sans severe insanity.
What I wonder is why don’t the Padres and the city just fill out their own transfer of title to put it back in their names? Or would that be a crime, like they’d technically be stealing the property from the dude in the insane asylum?
As a real estate agent I find this entire situation interesting. Keep in mind all of this legality pertains to the state of North Carolina and each state has a different set of laws in regard to deed transfer.
One of the essential elements of transferring a deed is that the grantor must sign (obviously). Another element is that both parties must be mentally competent. In fact the NC Real Estate Manual clearly states: “The grantor must be competent to convey and the grantee must be capable of receiving the grant of the property. Any person who is competent to make a valid contract is competent to be a grantor.”
The last part is probably the largest hurdle as I imagine this law is universal to deed transfer throughout the country. Ignoring the fact that clearly all parties with an interest in the property (the grantor’s) did not sign, at this time the current grantor is the mentally incompetent man who has an interest in the property at the Register of Deeds. So again – if it’s anything like NC – the hurdle is that the county/city/interested parties, must have a mentally incompetent man transfer his ownership back.
As the article states, there is obviously a case for fraud to be made but if the man cannot stand trial he cannot legally be put in front of a judge and jury. I don’t understand where the legal line is drawn between the judicial process and property ownership in the state or county but this is a mess. Someone had to have dropped the ball at the register of deeds because all contract’s in the USA (as far as I know, a lawyer who hangs around here may be able to confirm) must be confirmed in writing or else it is not a legal contract and can be thrown out. That must be the heart of the issue.
In California at least county recorders will record anything. It isn’t their job to determine whether the document is legal, only that it is filed correctly. The article doesn’t say if the County of San Diego actually changed the owner of record for the stadium property (in which case the property tax bill is now being sent to the goofy guy who filed the deed), or whether the filing simply clouded the title. Presumably the latter.
Dat last news item tho…
I don’t understand how a guy can be called an ace, then in the season his k/9 rate is far and away his best ever, he gets called useless for the rest of his career. Shields on 3/65 isn’t even close to looking like a bad deal right now, SD shouldn’t pick up anymore than $10M of that in a trade.
Because they seem to make a lot of trades with each other, I wonder if Shields to Oakland has been discussed yet. He’d be that perfect 1-2 punch with Gray that they’re looking for.
Shields value has dropped in the opinion of writers, not to anyone else.
His H/9 was lower than his career average, his K/9 was the highest of his career. Peripherals like LOB %, GB rate, LD rate, FB rate, and balls hit soft, medium and hard were all in line with his career averages. His xFIP and SIERA were both 20 points lower than his ERA indicating that he was better than his ERA would make you think.
The problems he faced were he had the worst defense behind him in his career and Norris is a horrible game caller as evidenced by every returning Padres pitcher having a decline in performance with Norris behind the plate in 2015.
Shields will be fine as soon as he gets a decent catcher behind the plate. .
I agree with most of the things you said, but he did lose more than a mile on his average fastball velocity which could be some what worrisome. Having said so he could still be great with a better defense behind him since he seemed to want to pitch out side the zone to strike everyone out in 2015 (which also led to his worst BB9 in his career).
Yeah once they get a better defense in the field, I could see Shields (as well as other pitchers) doing well.
The Dodgers system is the new Red Sox system. The problem with the top of the top 100 is that people weigh the #1 to the #25 best prospect logarithmically better (like the actual draft). If you look at things historically, it just shows top 25 are most likely to be contributing major leaguers and that a star for vs. a contributor isn’t so weighted in rank. He Dodgers should think of making a move for esabkished talent if they think they are in peak kershaw.
Since 1990, 29% of top 50 prospects ended up playing in the majors for more than 130 AB/50 IP, 17% ended up being regular starters in the majors (not utility players/bullpen). less than 4% became All-Stars. There are no stats I could find on how many in top 25 become regular starters or All-Stars, but considering this year the difference between the #9 and #100 on scouting grading scale is 5 points, there is not that big a difference. Certainly not a logarithmic difference. People are overvaluing prospects far too much.
Urias, Deleon, and Micah Johnson? Lol, where do these so-called “experts” get this stuff? Certainly not from the teams that would never do something so foolish.
Get on this bucs! Big game James and Coke train. Has a nice ring to it as a 1-2 top of the rotation.
Padres get shafted on that deal. Wil Myers still has worlds of potential. As long as he’s healthy he’s a threat. James Shields has much more value than that especially if he’s only being paid 5 million by the team he’s actually on. Michael Gettys has five tools reminiscent of mike trout. What also needs to be said is that he has a massive hole in his swing. However, he’s 19 and has a lot of time to work on that. The Padres are getting milb depth in return for their second best pitcher, one of the faces of their franchise, and a prospect with a extremely low floor, but as high a ceiling you can have. For all of that, the Padres receive a fringy pitching prospect with 3-5 potential, filler, and a 3b and SS prospects. The Padres have Guerra, Urias, Rondon, and Giron who all profile either as middle infield or 3b prospects so getting those prospects would not affect the farm much. The only way the Padres even think about giving that entire package up is if at least two of their good pitching prospects are mentioned (toussaint, allard, newcomb).
Jesus Christ, no. Not at all, cundiff was a recent waiver addition, who would want him? He’s ok I’ll give him that but really also I don’t think the Padres need Swisher. Also a 3b for the future, they had a guy like that… What’s his name… Oh will Middlebrooks and he’s a recent minor league acquiree to the Brewers. I don’t think this would work out on the thing on salaries and things, and idk if the Padres want to eat shields salary.
No one cares about what you wrote a “thousand” times.
Please just leave the site and go away!
Main problem with Shields is the opt out clause he has. Team won’t know if they are getting 1 or 3 years of him.
Any team trading for him can ask for that clause to be waived as part of conditions of the trade. It’s not an impediment to a trade.
It’s an impediment if he isn’t willing to waive it. And he’d be an idiot to waive it.
For a team seeking a stopgap solution the opt-out could be seen as an attractive feature, if the assumption is made that he is likely to opt out in a year. This also makes him a glorified rental and mitigates what the Padres can ask for him in trade.
If Red Sox could get shields somehow they’d have Rays old 1-2 punch of Price and Shields
Fans of any team are going to have to face the fact that they will have to give ups limb to get a guy who slots in as a 2 or 3 in a rotation. Odorizzi will fetch a top ten prospect. Add Boxberger, who is a top of the line closer, on a team friendly deal, will make that dent bigger. This is a new system, but the pitching hungry, win now teams started it.
Just wondering you know anything about supply and demand?
Top 10
Twins – Dont Need Pitching
Nats – Dont Need Pitching
Dodgers – Needs 1 pitcher *Had Maeda visits yesterday
Phillies Rebuilding
Texas – If they wanted pitching they would of signed more
Boston – Dont Need pitching
Pirates Dont need pitching
Braves – rebuilding
Rockies – rebuilding
Now please explain me who is going to give up a top 10 prospect if there is no one who is willing 2 do it? Add into the fact that there are a lot of 3’s on the FA board right now and your assertion is even more ridiculous
In what world is a 4.26 FIP a “top of the line closer”?
Dude, why do you post these asinine trade suggestions with a dozen or more players on every thread? This type of trade will never happen. Like when you suggested the Rays trade Longo, Archer, and Kiermaier. Will never happen.
Its too bad there is no upvote, because you hit the nail squarely on the head @kylelohse
Yeah I don’t get these either, they are just pointless. Unless of course it is meant to be humorous, in which case it’s more ridiculous than funny.
Before the Mets made their FA moves they should have called the Dodgers and offered Mat Harvey for Seager and Peterson. That would have been fair for both teams. It would have given the Dodgers the ace to replace Greinke, and 3 years of control to work out an extension. Even with Boras as the agent, they can afford the $30 something mm/yr it will cost to sign Harvey which the Mets can’t.
Yeeeeeeah, Seager has much more value than Harvey by himself.
Yeah, more value. Because a 21 year old hitter with 100 at bats is worth so much more than a proven TOP of the rotation arm.
Hey, Joe, you are not even close to being right…
Hey Tuna, way to sound pretty idiotic.
Seager has a higher projected WAR through 2020 than Harvery does and Seager also has 2 more years of arbitration than Harvey.
Citing “projected WAR” to support your argument is a great way to sound desperate. Fortunately it is not necessary to use any hairy edge stats to slap down the argument that the Dodgers would be likely to trade Seager for anyone. Baseball reasons are more than enough. All you have to ask is: who plays SS for the Dodgers if it isn’t Seager?
“Projected ” war ? Haha. 100 mlb at bats says projected war is a ridiculous position. How about 2 and a half years of all star caliber /cy young receiving votes in the major leagues !!??
Get a clue !!
lol
If you look at Shield 2015 month by month you see a few things that add context to his overall number of homeruns (a mlb leading 33). 11 of them were hit in the month of May whereas he averaged just under 5 a month for the entire season. He also got clobbered in June when he allowed opponents to hit a .881 OPS against him. 10 doubles,, 4 trips and only 1 homerun.. He had 2 consecutive horrible games in May vs the Rockies and Dbacks where he gave up 7 of his 11 homeruns that month. The next 4 game he pitched well only allowing 8 runs in 26 IP (2,76 ERA). The rest of the year was just a matter of inconsistency but not overall horrible results.
I think he would be an excellent match for the Yankees.as they sorely need at least 1 pitcher they can pencil in for 200 IP.
How about….
Shields (Owed 3/$65)
Colin Rae
for
Ivan Nova
Ben Gamel (LF/CF @ AAA)
Mason Williams (CF @ AAA/MLB)
Rob Refsnyder (2B @ AAA/MLB)
Rookie Davis (RHP @ A+/AA)
How much of that contract are the Pods going to take on? Rookie Davis is arguably their most talented SP prospect right now (when you factor in upside and stuff) so not likely unless most of his contract is paid for. Money right now (as in saving money) is the most important thing apparently for Hal Steinbrenner. So to get Cashman to give up his prospects (and you are asking for 4 of their top 20 prospects) it’s going to require most of Shields contract paid off.
You all leave this sorry man alone!