Deal for Shields could top $40M

The Rays are set to announce a long-term contract for the 26-year-old starter.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published January 23, 2008

In just over 1 1/2 seasons in the majors, James Shields emerged as one of the Rays' most consistent starters, going 12-8 with a 3.85 ERA last year.
	[Edmund D. Fountain | Times (2007)]

ST. PETERSBURG - The Rays completed a long-term deal with James Shields that could keep the right-handed starter with the team for up to seven seasons and pay him more than $38-million.

Final details were worked out Tuesday night, with the team planning "a major announcement regarding a player signing" for 2 p.m. today.

"I just left a meeting and it's a done deal," agent Page Odle said late Tuesday. "He thinks they're going to be something special, and he wants to be part of it. I know he's very excited."

The deal includes four guaranteed years and team options for three more seasons, with incentives that could push the total value above $40-million. The guaranteed portion of deal - the first four years of salary and a buyout of the options - is believed to be worth about $12-million.

As eye-catching as the dollar figures are, the deal is more interesting because Shields, 26, is two seasons from arbitration and five from free agency in 2013.

The Rays get cost certainty over the term of the deal and the opportunity, by exercising all three options, to "buy out" Shields' first two seasons of free agency (keeping him through the 2014 season); Shields gets the security of the guaranteed money.

The deal is the latest investment by the Stuart Sternberg ownership to keep its best young players, and similar in structure to the pact signed in November 2005 by Rocco Baldelli, who got three years guaranteed for $5-million (plus a $4-million buyout) and three option years that could be worth another $23-million.

In just over 1 1/2 seasons in the majors, Shields emerged as one of the Rays' most consistent starters, going 12-8 with a 3.85 ERA last year while throwing 215 innings (10th most in the AL) despite skipping his last two starts under team orders. His strikeout-to-walk ratio of 184-36 was second-best in the majors, and among the best in major-league history for a pitcher 25 or younger.

[Last modified January 23, 2008, 00:28:32]