As the offseason begins to stir, a very expected move involving the White Sox has moved into the “confirmed rumor” status.
White Sox RHP James Shields will officially opt in to the final two years of his deal, source confirms to @SBNation. Was a formality.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) October 27, 2016
As mentioned, this was merely a formality. Once it becomes official, Shields will make $21 million a season for the next two seasons. The White Sox are on the hook for $10 million a season while the Padres will be paying $11 million each. There’s also an additional option season for $16 million, but it seems likely the Sox will take the $2 million buyout for that season.
So, how bad was last season? Well, while with the Sox he went 4-12 for the White Sox with a 6.77 ERA and 6.93 FIP. The additional bit of bad news, Shields xFIP was 5.80. Although the Sox held out hope for Shields during a “good” run of games in late June and July, the peripherals of that month-plus told a different story. A good bit of luck in the form of a .203 BABIP and 1.71 ERA hid the 4.86 FIP and 5.15 xFIP. Since good luck is usually punished by regression to the mean, Shields crashed to Earth in early August with a five inning, six run start against Detroit and a one and ⅓ inning, eight run, four home run outing against Baltimore to start August.