Playing the Contract

James Shields started for the White Sox Friday night against the As, which is to say the Sox got their bell rung to the tune of 9-0.  Shields gave up six earned runs in 4-2/3 innings.  “Only” three of the eight Oakland hits went for homeruns.  That’s why you have to love anytime Shields walks a batter—it takes longer for the base runner to score.

Shields has given up 27 earned runs and 33 hits over his last 14 innings.  His record now stands at 5-15 with a 7.62 ERA.  “I need to finish strong,” Shields said after the game, and manager Robin Ventura intends to give him a chance.  Ventura thinks Shields is “going to figure that [his pitching woes] out.”

In the old days, Shields would be demoted to the bullpen, but these are different times, when teams play the contract regardless how much the player connected to it stinks.  Shields is owed $58 million on the two years left on a four-year contract he signed with the Padres in 2015.  Unless Shields decides to opt out of his contract at the end of this season (don’t hold your breath there), the Sox will owe him $27 million this year and next.  So, they hope for a miracle rather than eat $27 million.

At least misery loves company.  On the North Side last December, the Cubs signed then 26-year old Jason Heyward to a 6-year, $184 million deal with opt-outs after seasons three and four.  Right now, the Cubs have to be hoping either Heyward remembers how to hit or that he takes the opt-out.  Heyward is hitting a robust .225 with five homers and 32 rbi’s.

But not to worry.  “It can’t be a numbers game at this point,” Heyward told the Tribune on his 27^th birthday the other week.  Of course not.  Why, “You can’t ever look at numbers, not that I personally looked at numbers anyway.  Right now, it’s not going to matter.”  Just one question, who’s he crappin’?

It’s all about the numbers, the ones argued by Heyward’s agent in the offseason and the ones crunched by the Cubs’ front office.  Only the numbers don’t mesh anymore.  Heyward’s younger than Shields, so there’s a better chance that he’ll bounce back, maybe to the point he can walk away from the Cubs after the 2018 season.  But it’ll have nothing to do with his numbers.