Dyson/ Gordon/ Butler/ Hosmer/ Perez/ Myers/ Moose/ Alcides/ Getz(Giavotella)

Shields/ E.Santana / Jake Odorizzi looks more palatable than Chen, Guthrie, well, you can see where that’s heading……
anyway, Lo, Crow, and a minor leaguer should do it.

-Baltimore Orioles, Oakland A’s

He’s been a horse for a long time, I guess the concerns are that he’ll wear down.

But here’s the problem with sports, it’s one giant survivorship bias. We keep waiting for people to break down, because we expect them to be like us (out of shape 30-40 year olds who couldn’t do 1/10th of what they do). But they aren’t like us. They are already fantastic athletes who don’t suffer the same breakdowns we do.

Now, I wouldn’t bet that Shields will pitch 200+ innings for the next 10 years, but he’s had zero problems since ’07 (well, he has HR issues) and i’d bet he’d pitch 800 innings over the next 4 years.

who knows what evil lurks in the heart of Friedman

But this is excellent. A woman of letters. And quoting The Shadow too. Well, as they say in in the UK, turn about is fair play
-so the trade will be there… around every corner… in every empty room… as inevitable as Friedman’s guilty conscience…

You can rest assured Shields will not face the wrong way nor will he bunt every at bat. Why, he even has three RBIs.

I’m going out on a limb here, but somebody on that pitching staff is getting traded. Shields seems the likely candidate, but who knows what evil lurks in the heart of Friedman. Hopefully, the trade will be for someone who isn’t completely befuddled by runners in scoring position.

Getz? Francouer? I’d claim them off waivers if there were no one else and everyone on my team was injured.

Nothing against shields he is a fine pitcher but his innings pitched and contract worry me.

Why, other than he’ll be 31 next year? He had shoulder surgery in ’02 which caused him to change his repertoire. Since ’07 he’s made 31 starts every single year, and since ’08 he’s made 33. He’s generally around 215IP which is just 6.5 IP per start, with one big year in ’11 when he threw 247. Compare him to another workhorse since ’08

CC Sabathia – 1158 IP, 4749 Batters Faced
James Shields – 1115 IP, 4625 Batters Faced

43 less IP but 124 less batters. He’s efficient. He’s obviously healed from that ’02 injury. I don’t want to make an assumption, but sounds like a few of you think he’s “due” for an injury.

Back to James Shields and his batting, Miss Indaburg. 37 ABs do not a sample size make but you know that and no one really expects much from a pitcher with a bat. Leaving aside the spectre of Zambrano whaling on a water cooler for the moment, I think the best we can assume for Mr. Shields is that he does what he usually does which is pitch very well and does not do something foolish at the plate like face the wrong way or attempt to bunt all the time. As a pitcher, if we factor in the easy out that is “pitcher hitting” slot, I suspect we might see him better rather than worse once he hits the NL. If he is traded of course. He might not be.

Awesome gravatar, btw.

Shields doesn’t treat the bat as if it is something from another planet

He can use a bat? I did not know that. Good. He will be fine in the NL. If he’s traded that is. It is likely that Rays brass might feel that it is not possible to have too much pitching or that someone else might be better suited to turing into a bat or 2.

If anything, I’d hope they pair up with the Royals (Myers, Moustakas, Hosmer).