White Sox acquire Shields from Padres
It's official: James Shields is headed to the South Side.
The Chicago White Sox have acquired the right-handed starter from the San Diego Padres in exchange for pitcher Erik Johnson and shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.
USA Today Sports' Bob Nightengale reports the Padres will also pay $29 million of the remaining $56 million left on Shields' current four-year contract, while the White Sox will pay $27 million. The 34-year-old is owed $21 million in each of the next two seasons, but can opt out of his contract after this year.
White Sox general manager Rick Hahn has been looking to make a "big move" after his team got off to a red-hot start to the season. Grabbing Shields provides the South Siders, who fell back to third place after a mediocre May, with a veteran arm from the right side to compliment the outstanding left-handed duo of Chris Sale and Jose Quintana.
The 34-year-old has proven to be a workhorse over his career, throwing more than 200 innings in each of the last nine seasons, but is also homer-prone, allowing a league-high 33 home runs in 2015. He gave up a career-worst 10 runs in just 2 2/3 innings in his last start against Seattle on Tuesday, which bumped his season ERA up over a full run, from 3.06 to 4.28.