04/19/24
February 09, 2015
James Shields Signs with San Diego Padres: The San Diego Padres have signed James Shields, the last major free agent left on the board, to a four-year deal with an option for a fifth, SBNation reports. Under new GM A.J. Preller, they've added Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Wil Myers, Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks. The free-spending Friars last went to the playoffs in 2006.
A little less well-thought than dfleming's comment, but if Will Middlebrooks is in the top 5 of attractive additions to a bad team, I think you still have a bad team.
posted by yerfatma at 11:49 AM on February 09, 2015
Interesting enough - Shields' contract is the largest ever handed out to a free agent by the Padres.
Second is Joaquin Benoit's $15.5m two-year deal. Third is none other than the famed hooker killer from San Angelo himself (in 2007.)
They've absorbed larger through trade (for example, Matt Kemp) and have re-signed players in between, but it's kind of startling to see a team with very little history building through free agency. It'd be more impressive if they won more often in conjunction, but notable nonetheless.
posted by dfleming at 12:04 PM on February 09, 2015
I don't know that "playoff-caliber" would necessarily be in the cards for the Pads anyway, but I'd think they're starting with "hey let's not be the historically worst hitting team ever" and "hey let's try to actually sell some tickets" first. Given the Padre's recent history with free agent signings, I'm really giving them the side-eye myself and not expecting things to go well, but I can't remember a time since the turn of the millennium where there's ever been a national new story about "Padres sign _______" and here we're talking about third one this offseason.
It would be nice if all this was accompanied by actually trying to draft good players and then actually sign those good players, but that may still be too much to hope for.
posted by LionIndex at 01:09 PM on February 09, 2015
It's a bit of a ragtag group they've put together - I don't necessarily think they've constructed a playoff-caliber roster, and I'm not sure the Cole Hamels for Andrew Cashner/Wil Myers rumors puts them over the top either. A lot of wild cards (Morrow, Johnson, Middlebrooks, Kemp) could pull them any which way.
That outfield has the potential to be one of the worst defensively in recent memory, and in such a big park guys like Ian Kennedy and James Shields, who were both top 40 in FB% last year, may regress. They have about $55m invested in those 6 outfielders, and only 3 can play everyday, and only one (Maybin) can really say at this point in his career he`s a true center fielder.
I feel like they're amassing a roster and fell a deal or two short. Maybe there's another deal in the wings, but I don't look at this roster and think they break 85 wins without a whole lot of stuff going right.