TORONTO – At this point the Toronto Blue Jays’ interest in James Shields is limited to due diligence, and it’s very possible that it won’t get any further than that.
Still, that they’re doing some digging and other preparatory work on the free-agent right-hander in case an opportunity presents itself is intriguing.
Bolstering the rotation would free up Aaron Sanchez to stabilize a bullpen still in need of a boost this off-season, and also provide additional insulation with Mark Buehrle in the last year of his deal and the club holding an option on R.A. Dickey for 2016.
Even if as suggested by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, who first reported the Blue Jays’ interest in Shields, the price on the dependable ace has fallen into the $80-million, four-year range, GM Alex Anthopoulos may not have enough financial wiggle room to pull off such a deal.
It’s believed the Blue Jays now have less than $6 million left to spend after settling with three of their five arbitration-eligible players, with the cases of Josh Donaldson and Danny Valencia pending.
An extra $5 million could be freed up by dumping Dioner Navarro, something the team doesn’t want to do, but either way, fitting in a big ticket item will require lots of additional creativity.
Signing someone like Shields would require significant backloading, and the Blue Jays will probably be reluctant to do that again after financing the Russ Martin signing in such fashion.
Worth keeping in mind is that the Blue Jays do prep work on virtually all players that become available so they can be ready to act if needed. A favourite Anthopoulos caveat is that they like lots of players but only at a certain price.
Having all the information needed to make a call on Shields makes sense. As things currently stand, the Blue Jays haven’t decided to pursue him, and it’s far from a certainty that they will.