Angels interested in James Shields

[Brent Maguire]

Baseball Prospectus seems to like him a good amount based on their scouting report from a few weeks ago.

 

"Will command 19-22MM. Could see four years with an option for a fifth. A top of the rotation starter that should age well. Not dependent on velocity, pitches with guile and brains. Can win games in the low 90s with cut and sink, in addition to his excellent change up. Fearless pitcher who will throw upwards of 200 innings annually."

 

The biggest question about him is how he'll pitch when his velocity starts to drop. His command was great last year but the strikeouts fell even with the increased velocity. Once the velocity drops, what kind of pitcher will he be?

[wopphil]

He is actually quite similar to Weaver in some ways, albeit with better stuff and a bit older. He was every bit as effective this year as he has been over the course of his career.

I'd be stoked if we got him on a four year deal. Remember, Weaver and Wilson are under club control for only two more years, so at some point we are going to need to bring in free agent arms to replace them.

[xboom28x]

 I agree that it's not a huge risk to take on CJ at this point since it is only two years. However, the argument is that they would give up prospects to do it. That's harder to swallow.

 

I'm not talking another teams top prospects. A couple of Rondon's would do.

 

What would CJ get if he were a free agent right now? Maybe 2/22? And he is owed 2/38, so I am guessing the Angels would have to eat $16 mil to move him. That is just too much, IMO.

 

He'd get at minimum 3 years. Likely 4. By no means would it be easy, but if you could trade even half of that contract, would you? For a couple of minor league has beens? I would.

 

Shields at his worst I don't think would be as bad as Wilson was for stretches. Wilson had 15 QS last season. His 4.5 ERA was hardly Blanton-esque.

Edited November 20, 2014 by xboom28x

[dimitrig]

I'm not talking another teams top prospects. A couple of Rondon's would do.

 

 

He'd get at minimum 3 years. Likely 4. By no means would it be easy, but if you could trade even half of that contract, would you? For a couple of minor league has beens? I would.

 

Shields at his worst I don't think would be as bad as Wilson was for stretches. Wilson had 15 QS last season. His 4.5 ERA was hardly Blanton-esque.

 

CJ's big problem is that he's a starter who gives you 5 innings max.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Id be good with signing him. If he could be had for something like 4/80, it would be a solid move (imo). Sure there are concerns. But we need another starter, and one can eat innings....there arent a ton of choices and what is out there that can give us what we need isnt much more of a bargain.

Do i want some mega deal? No. Am i against getting a savy cheaper/less splashy deal done? Not at all. But hes still a lot better pitcher than some of you are saying.

Like i said earlier, forget the playoffs. Trout wasnt much better. And id flip shoemaker for kershaw in a heartbeat.

[xboom28x]

CJ's big problem is that he's a starter who gives you 5 innings max.

 

Not true. Again, 15 quality starts means 6 IP and 3 runs or less. That's half of his starts. 7 starts he went 7+ innings.

 

Weaver went 7 innings 10 times.

Edited November 20, 2014 by xboom28x

[dimitrig]

Not true. Again, 15 quality starts means 6 IP and 3 runs or less. That's half of his starts. 7 starts he went 7+ innings.

 

Weaver went 7 innings 10 times.

 

Oh, sorry. 6 innings.

[ukyah]

Oh, sorry. 6 innings.

 

 

starters average innings pitched across mlb.

 

2009-5.81

2010-5.98

2011-6.03

2012-5.89

2013-5.71

 

perspective. the facts are not what our biases tell us they are.

Edited November 20, 2014 by ukyah

[dimitrig]

starters average innings pitched across mlb.

 

2009-5.81

2010-5.98

2011-6.03

2012-5.89

2013-5.71

 

perspective. the facts are not what our biases tell us they are.

 

And how much does the average starter make? CJ Wilson is the 16th highest paid starting pitcher in all of MLB but he provides average performance and not just in number of innings pitched. What a hot commodity!

Edited November 20, 2014 by dimitrig

[xboom28x]

The point is his poor outings weighed heavily on us so we think he is worse than he actually is. Someone said he was Blanton-esque earlier in this thread when he was a full 1.50 runs better than Blanton in 2013. Wilson is not as bad as people think. Yes, he is overpaid. But that contract was back loaded. He's making half of the money in that 5 year deal over the next 2 years.

[Glen]

The point is his poor outings weighed heavily on us so we think he is worse than he actually is. Someone said he was Blanton-esque earlier in this thread when he was a full 1.50 runs better than Blanton in 2013. Wilson is not as bad as people think. Yes, he is overpaid. But that contract was back loaded. He's making half of the money in that 5 year deal over the next 2 years.

The problem with looking at CJ's stats for the whole year is that he was two different pitchers. First half CJ was solid. Second half CJ was terrible. Based on his second half there is plenty of reason to worry about him.

[xboom28x]

Meh. 5 of his last 11 starts were solid after coming off the DL. He was terrible in those other 6, but not terrible the entire 2nd half.

[Glen]

Saying those starts were terrible doesn't do them justice. Weren't there at least three where he didn't get past the second inning?

Yeah, I hope he figures something out in the offseason but it looks bad.

[Angel Oracle]

Innings pitched was usually not the problem with Nibs in 2014.

Hits and BBs were the problem, along with a high ERA.

[Guest]

Saying those starts were terrible doesn't do them justice. Weren't there at least three where he didn't get past the second inning?

Yeah, I hope he figures something out in the offseason but it looks bad.

During his most reason postseason outing he didn't get past the second out recorded

[Mark68]

Saying those starts were terrible doesn't do them justice. Weren't there at least three where he didn't get past the second inning?

Yeah, I hope he figures something out in the offseason but it looks bad.

And two of the good starts were against the Mariners.