Report: White Sox, Padres closing in on James Shields trade

James Shields should start looking at flights to the South Side.

The Chicago White Sox are reportedly in advanced talks with the San Diego Padres to acquire the right-hander, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Padres are reportedly targeting teenage shortstop prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. as part of the return, per Lin. The Padres would also pay about half of the remaining $56-million on Shields' contract through 2018, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. 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.

Shields is scheduled to start for the Padres on Sunday against Colorado, and the team would like to have a trade done by then.

Earlier Saturday, it was reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that trade talks had advanced between the Padres and White Sox, though two other unidentified teams were also said to be in the mix. One of those teams may be the Kansas City Royals, who supposedly inquired about Shields, according to Scott Miller of Bleacher Report.

Shields 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.