James Shields rumors: Blue Jays the only team left for Shields?

James Shields is the last big name standing on the MLB Free Agency market. Will any teams show interest in signing him?

Here is a piping hot take, backed by statistical evidence and everything: James Shields is a pretty darn good starting pitcher. Somebody should remind all of the teams that need pitching that Shields is still available.

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It appears that the market for Shields is only getting worse, that despite the fact that his fellow top-of-the-rotation free agents have already signed with new teams.

We are less than one month from pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training, and there is no obvious fit for what team will sign James Shields. In his Sunday Baseball Notes in the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo paints an especially bleak picture:

"Teams are fleeing from James Shields. This week alone, the Padres, Red Sox, and Royals all indicated they were not likely in the hunt for the free agent righthander……One prominent baseball official feels Shields has been miscast and not marketed and/or positioned well by his agent, Page Odle. Shields is a super pitcher, but the notion that he’s a bad postseason pitcher seems to have overwhelmed his total body of work."

Aren’t there teams that need better starting pitching at the top of their rotation to dream of making the playoffs at all, never mind winning a series? There should be, I would think…a team, perhaps, like the Toronto Blue Jays…

Cafardo notes that the Blue Jays might the only team left with a lingering interest in Shields, though they would have to get the money for such a signing approved. As things stand now with their budget, they only have room for a minor move or two.

Rather than looking at the track record for Shields in the postseason, teams could reasonably express concern about his age and his possible contract demands. A five-year deal for over $100 million for a 33-year-old starting pitcher is dicey and actually worthy of concern.

But are you really telling me that some team can’t swoop here and get one heck of a deal? Besides the usual tricks and creativity teams use to make mega-deals work, couldn’t a team make a strong pitch on a four-year deal? Or offer some sort of option or vesting option for the fifth year?

James Shields has a career 3.72 ERA. He posted a 3.21 ERA and a 4.09 K/BB ratio last season. He has thrown at least 200 innings every year since 2007. What this year’s saturated market might have made people forget is the fact that this type of proven starting pitcher doesn’t hit free agency very often.

Some team is going to remember, possibly those Blue Jays, and they will have a top-of-the-rotation guy on their roster.