MLB News: San Diego Padres, James Shields Agree On 4-Year Deal Worth Over $72M

James Shields has signed a four-year deal with the San Diego Padres on Monday and the contract is reportedly valued at around $72 to $78 million according to news around the league. The pitcher finally chose a team after being chased by Major League Baseball, or MLB, teams like the Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins in baseball’s offseason.

A club option for a fifth year extension is included in the deal, according to various reports. The move is just another one of the Padres’ big offseason haul adding Justin Upton, Wil Myers, Derek Norris, Will Middlebrooks and Matt Kemp before the start of the new season. Shields joins a pitching crew which includes reliable pitchers Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross and Ian Kennedy.

Before the official signing, the Padres showed intention that they badly wanted the right-handed pitcher and was the favourite to land Shields but other teams also bid for Shields. Shields will add depth to the Padres rotation with his fastball and change-up. He has a win-loss record of 114-90 in 286 games played with 3.72 ERA. Shields, who had a a 4.09 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 125 ERA+ over 227 innings last season, is a veteran right-hander playing for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 2006 to 2012 and the Kansas City Royals from 2013 to 2014.

Shields was traded to the Kansas City Royals with Wade Davisin exchange for Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery and Patrick Leonard on Dec. 9, 2012. He extended his stay in Kansas City after the team exercised a $13.5 million option in 2014. The San Diego Padres have missed the postseason since 2006 and the team went just 77-85 last year. Shields helped the Royals reach the 2014 World Series where they lost to the San Francisco Giants in seven games in the championship series.

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