According to a report from Jim Bowden of ESPN, the reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants are reportedly out of the running on both James Shields and right-hander Max Scherzer, for the most part ending speculation that the club could add one of the arms behind ace Madison Bumgarner.
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The tweet from Bowden covers plenty of bases regarding San Francisco: the team is out on Shields, who, apparently to this point, they had some level of interest in; the team was never in the running for Scherzer (a situation that has not changed) and the front office has a great deal of interest in adding Tampa Bay utilityman Ben Zobrist.
Last season, the team rode left-hander Madison Bumgarner through the postseason and the left-handed ace helped cruise – even coming out of the bullpen to close down the Kansas City Royals in Game Seven. On the season, as a whole, Mad-Bum finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting, while also earning an All-Star nod and a Silver Slugger award. In the postseason, he stepped things up even further, going 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA in the World Series, striking out 17 in 21 innings of work.
Adding either Shields or Scherzer in behind Bumgarner would have given the Giants one of – if not – the best one-two punch in all of baseball. However, the former Detroit Tigers’ ace appears to be ready to play the waiting game after going a combined 39-8 over the past two seasons.
Shields, on the other hand, is coming off yet another disappointing postseason performance with the Kansas City Royals. His price tag is likely to be less than half that of Scherzer, making him a more appealing and realistic option for several teams in the market for a quality starting pitcher.
Last season, Shields did, however, lead the Royals to the Fall Classic with a 14-8 record and 3.21 earned run average across 34 outings. His 7.00 ERA in the World Series disappointed, but he will no doubt have plenty of suitors in the offseason’s second half.