Detroit Tigers Have Not Pursued James Shields
By Tony Fischer
The news of Max Scherzer’s exodus to the Washington Nationals brings to a close a long free agency wait for the former Cy Young award winner. The deal also gave general manager Dave Dombrowski the opportunity to clarify rumors about the Detroit Tigers, Max Scherzer and James Shields.
Reports from the Tigers camp this offseason was that nothing had changed after Max Scherzer turned down Detroit’s $144 million offer. But in the wake of the offer Dave Dombrowksi told beat writers that the door was still open for Scherzer to return to Tigers, even if it was only a crack.
Dombrowski said he never completely closed on Max: "We never 100 percent closed the door, but we're very happy with the rotation we have."
— James Schmehl (@jamesschmehl) January 19, 2015
The Detroit Tigers brass may have been happy with the rotation of Verlander, Price, Sanchez, Simon and Greene but that didn’t stop recent rumors that Dave Dombrowski was pursuing James Shields to join the his group of starters. While commenting on the Scherzer deal, Dombrowksi took the opportunity to deny pursuing any other pitchers much less the former ace of the Kansas City Royals.
Dombrowski on rotation: "We have not pursued anything else at all, despite any type of rumors."
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) January 19, 2015
Asked if he was willing to comment or debunk rumors about possibility of signing James Shields, Dombrowski replied: "I just did, didn't I?"
— James Schmehl (@jamesschmehl) January 19, 2015
Although not as strong as last year, the Detroit Tigers rotation should still be top ten in the American League in 2015 but there are plenty of questions surrounding the starters. Justin Verlander looked as if he was on the downside of his career last year. JV’s continuing slump in 2014 was supposed to be due to the fact he had not fully recovered from off-season core muscle surgery. With another full offseason to recover JV should put up solid numbers this year although still probably far removed from his Cy Young/MVP season of 2011.
Anibal Sanchez is also a big concern for the Tigers. When he is on the mound, Sanchez has been lights out. However he has missed time over the last two season calling in to question whether his durability. With questions like these about the top of the rotation, it would surprise anyone to find out the Tigers were looking for another arm. But it appears Dombrowski is willing to go into the season with his current roatation….for now.
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