White Sox right-hander James Shields is drawing interest from playoff contenders as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline creeps closer, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports. The 36-year-old turned in his fourth straight quality start Saturday and has pitched to a 4.48 ERA/4.28 FIP with 6.01 K/9, 3.66 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent groundball rate in 76 1/3 innings this season. Shields is on a $21MM salary – though his previous team, San Diego, is paying $11MM of that – and has a $16MM club option for 2019. His employer is sure to decline that in favor of a $2MM buyout, as Levine notes.
More from around the American League…
- Boston’s among the teams keeping an eye on Royals closer Kelvin Herrera, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. If acquired, the 28-year-old would return to a setup role with the Red Sox, thanks to the presence of closer Craig Kimbrel, and would further bolster a late-game mix that also includes Joe Kelly and Matt Barnes. Herrera, who’s in his last year of team control and making $7.94MM, has allowed just two earned runs and hasn’t issued a walk in 22 2/3 innings this season.
- Left-hander Zach Britton could return to the Orioles’ bullpen by June 15, manager Buck Showalter told Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. For now, Britton – who’s working back from the ruptured Achilles he suffered in December – will continue with his Triple-A rehab assignment. When he does get back to the majors, it seems Britton will be auditioning for other teams leading up to the deadline. Not only are the Orioles already well out of contention, but Britton’s not under contract past this season.
- The Rangers activated outfielder Carlos Tocci from the DL and optioned infielder Hanser Alberto to Triple-A on Saturday. Given that Tocci was a Rule 5 pick last winter, Texas had to decide whether to add him to its 25-man roster upon his activation or designate him for assignment. The 22-year-old will stick with the Rangers for the time being, even though his tenure with the team began poorly before he went to the DL on April 22 with a hip issue. The rookie has hit .080/.148/.080 over a small sample size of 28 PAs.
Cafardo is just one step below Joel Sherman on the idiocy scale. What would the Sox have prospect wise to possibly acquire Herrera?
You sure talk about the Red Sox a lot. Closet fan? Or you just like reminding us that the Sox farm system is thin? Well it doesn’t take a genius to see that, especially when you and mikeYank mention it every other day.
The Sox are trying to win now so the major league squad is Tight but the farm is thin. Oh well. Better than the other way around.
The Red Sox probably don’t have enough prospects to get a pitcher like that. You would have to trade a young major-leaguer and a Prospect. But don’t forget he’s a rental, so that might drive the price down. Let’s hope so because Boston needs a quality reliever, as do many teams.
I think he’s a NYY fan!!
I know he is. There’s a bunch of Yankees fans and Red Sox fans on here regularly. It’s the great thing about sports we can argue back and forth, jostle back and forth. It’s what sports is all about. I love it.
Lol thank you for this post. Mikeyank does nothing but troll. Cereal isn’t a troll but his bias grates sometimes.
Yea, there’s nothing like the rivalry, but can we all agree Sherman and Cafardo are imbeciles.
MIkey is definitely a troll. Breakfastman tries to be fair in his posts although I often disagree with.
Sherman is, yes.
Cheers mate…the next round of fiber is on me.
And a quality ballpark!!
Oh Gary, your such a sweet boy. Mommy is calling. Time for your meds. They will help reduce your irrelevant postings.
Red Sox fans will probably try to claim that Trey Ball still has value because I’ve seen that commented before
Well it’s because the Sox farm is super thin. A guy not in the top 100 is our number three guy LOL. Just ask Wheaties or Mikeyank or the new guy Steve chinwood. They’ll all tell you. I’m sure they’ll be on this post soon.
It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it. By the way where’s Vinny been lately?
Lol. Up vote. 🙂
Not sure about Vinny…
Agreed here. With what they would be willing to offer, they might just be interested to increase the cost to others that are bidding.
Since the start of the 2016 season Kelvim Herrera had posted 2.9 fWAR in 152 innings while recently traded closer Alex Colome had posted 3.0 fWAR in 147 innings (as of Wednesday morning).
Since the start of last season Herrera had posted 0.9 fWAR in 80 innings while Colome had posted 1.9 fWAR in 90.1 innings.
This year Herrera and Colome, Dominicans born on New Year’s Eve a year apart, have posted 0.8 fWAR and 0.7 fWAR, respectively..
The trade of two years and four-plus months of Colome (plus the pricey contract of Denard Span) netted a Double A pitcher* and a Single A pitcher from a weak Seattle farm system.
I am not convinced that Herrera has more trade value than Colome..
* the Double A pitcher, Andrew Moore, made nine starts at the MLB level last year.
Perception matters. Herrera was on a WS winning KC team. And WAR is not the best measure of reliever performance. What are their bWAR’s? What were their WPA’s over that same time span? JW. Might not even help my argument lol
Yeah i keeep hearing how colombe is herreras equal or better and its not even close. I dont care what fwar says, look at the actual results. The guy hasnt failed, whether a 1 inning specialist or a 3 inning bridge he has been dominant. Its descisions like this that keep analytically inclined people from winning the big prize.
O k is they’ve lost value due to TJS and PED’s, but I’m sure groome and Chavis could be headliners for deals like that.
Maybe you should actually read the article. Cafardo says that the Red Sox are keeping an eye on Herrera. He does not say they should acquire him. He even points out what you said; that the Red Sox have very little to give in a potential Herrera trade anyway
My degradation of Cafardo is not solely based on this particular article. The fact he even reported something like this is just fodder and more of his shoddy reporting.
He reported that the Sox are keeping an eye on Herrera, which they are. There’s no reason for him not to report it if it’s true. It’s his job to do so
Well guys he would fall under rental status…. they don’t bring as much, and trolling is just ugly
If they are willing to swallow Kennedy’s contract they could get him for nothing.
Most every team can acquire a rental reliever if they really want to. the question is do they really want to give that much up
It wouldn’t require much to get a half season of a pending FA. The Sox have plenary of talent to acquire that type of player. It’s the multi-years remaining type they would struggle acquiring.
How much do you expect Herrera to bring back?? The dude is a rental after all.
Is this suggesting the Orioles are going to be buyers instead of sellers?? With Boston and the Yankees in the same division??
What? How did you manage to think that? It says straight up that they are well out of contention.
Britton will be auditioning for OTHER teams meaning they will trade Britton to another team thereby saying the Orioles will be SELLING.
Orioles blew it not trading Britton last year. I k ow his value took a bit of a hit by last years deadline but he wasn’t coming off of an Achilles injury. Trade Em All! Actually trade Duquette for a dead battery first. He has sabotaged the team since he’s been here.
Cameron Rupp has apparently signed a new minor league deal with Texas.
It’s odd as it is just 2 days after he opted out of a similar deal with the Rangers. But a few sites seem to be mentioning it – including the minor league transaction page, and he is back on the Round Rock roster.
He didn’t get other offers to his liking so he returned to Rangers?
Not sure which contending teams are interested in Shields, but as a White Sox fan I sure hope they trade him. Seems like an OK guy and he has been pitching well as of late but I don’t ecpect it to last. Even if it does, it won’t benefit the Sox and if they can get a halfway decent player in return I’d be happy.
Sounds like wishful thinking that anyone is interested in James Shields.
Not even for Blake Swihart straight up…
How do some of these people in the FO of teams even have jobs still? I feel like I could make better moves and transactions than these guys sometimes. Oof!
I think the Red Sox have enough to get Herrera I just don’t think they have enough it gets into a bidding war. They could offer Beeks and someone like Cedroia and it ought to be enough but if another team wants him bad enough they will outbid the Red Sox.
Omg no. PLZ. Beeks is like the only prospect we have left. Take literally everyone else!
What about Sam Travis, in the minors he’s hitting .220 with two home runs. Time to call him up !!
Catchers in NY wish they could hit. 220.
Catchers in Boston wish they were hitting 220. Center fielders too.
A team is a 25 man roster. What the Sox recent decimation of their minor leagues reflects is their lack of depth when injuries occur. Will be corrected in time but this year they will need to stay on top of the waiver wire for position players (Lind) like the Indians have done with relief pitchers.
The Red Sox starters are very left handed anyway. I’m just pointing out the Red Sox can get Herrera if they wanted to whether they should trade Beeks is a whole another matter.
Does anyone think the Royals are really going to get a lot for Herrera? He is not going to bring a top 100 prospect! Maybe a teams 10-15 ranked prospect with a decent farm system.
I don’t think the Royals will get a top 100 prospect for Moustakas either. Maybe a 75-100 if you package them together!
Herrera is going to bring back a much better prospect than moose. If you followed baseball the last couple of seasons that’s pretty much a given.
I think we are going to be surprised at how much the Royals will get for Herrera. It won’t be a Chapman type returned but it’s going to be hefty. Not only is he pitching brilliantly this season but also there are so many teams that could use him is going to drive the price up.
Shields to the Dodgers for Baez
as a giants fan i say no, the giants always tee off on baez.
I’m past ready for the Braves to remove Viz from the closer role. Too much drama. Hererra would be a good fit in the 9th.
Keep hearing Astros connected to Herrera so that seems like something worth watching. Maybe for J.D. Davis and a lower level prospect?
If the White Sox can get anyone for Shields, they should jump at the chance. He’s played well the last few weeks, but he hasn’t had a good year in a while.