California Dreaming: Shields Set to Sign With Padres

February 10, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Random thoughts while wondering which Cubs and White Sox player will be late reporting to spring training because of visa problems (not to be confused with MasterCard problems):

Erin Heatherton (a native of Skokie, Ill.) is a New York Rangers fan. Video below.

* Free-agent pitcher James Shields reportedly has agreed to a four-year deal with the San Diego Padres for about $75 million. Meaning he won’t be part of the 2015 Chicago Cubs World Series champions. His loss. Or maybe that’s the 2105 Cubs. It’s unclear. What is clear is Shields, 33, apparently prefers being in a division with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants than he does being in one with Cincinnati and Milwaukee. Not to mention St. Louis and Pittsburgh. You can’t fault the Cubs for not signing Shields. Something says the idea is for the Cubs to be competitive in 2015 so that they can consider signing a better pitcher in 2016. Because, you know, no other team is going to try to improve as long as the Cubs want to, right?

* Speaking of Shields, it’s stunning that the San Diego resident would prefer that city to a larger market. Someplace like Chicago. It’s not as if signing with the Cubs would have meant he had to spend winters in the Windy City. And if he wants to learn how to build a snowman, it sure isn’t going to happen in San Diego.

Maybe Caroline Wozniacki can take this outfit to the tennis court. OK, maybe not.

* Thanks to the folks at Baseball America, we have Major League Baseball’s draft order and some other numbers. The great thing about these statistics is that they leave room to run photos of models in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue that came out Monday. Included are tennis ace Carolina Woziacki and MMA fighter Ronda Rousey. If things go according to plan (which they occasionally do around here, there will be more photos and videos from the SI Swimsuit issue in the days ahead). Which is enough to take your mind away from anything negative about baseball. Or basketball. Or football. Or hockey. Or just about anything.

2015 MLB DRAFT ORDER
Protected First-Round Picks

Ronda Rousey looks more like a lover than a fighter in this photo.

1. Diamondbacks
2. Astros
3. Rockies
4. Rangers
5. Astros
6. Twins
7. Red Sox
8. White Sox
9. Cubs
10. Phillies
11. Reds
Unprotected First-Round Picks
12. Marlins
13. Rays
14. Braves
15. Brewers
16. Yankees
17. Indians
18. Giants
19. Pirates
20. Athletics
21. Royals
22. Tigers
23. Cardinals
24. Dodgers
25. Orioles
26. Angels
Compensation Picks
27. Rockies
28. Braves
29. Blue Jays

SI Swimsuit rookie Kelly Rohrbach looks like a poised veteran from this angle.

30. Yankees
31. Giants
32. Pirates
33. Royals
34. Tigers
35. Dodgers
36. Orioles
Competitive Balance Round A
37. Astros
38. Rockies
39. Cardinals
40. Brewers
41. Padres
42. Indians

Baseball America also provides projected money figures for draft-pool allocation (money a team can spend on its draft picks — dollar totals are in millions):

Astros – $17.98
Rockies – $14.55
Diamondbacks – $14.18
Rangers – $9.47
Braves – $8.7
Yankees – $8.21
Reds – $8.09

Solveig provides a lovely end of SI Swimsuit rookie photos for today.

Brewers – $8.06
Orioles – $7.99
Giants – $7.82
Pirates – $7.69
Twins – $7.69
Cardinals – $7.69
Cubs – $7.55
Indians – $7.53
Royals – $7.5
Tigers – $7.4
Phillies – $7.36
Dodgers – $7.24
Marlins – $7.04
Rays – $6.86
Red Sox – $6.48
Athletics – $5.67
Blue Jays – $5.63
White Sox – $5.54
Angels – $5.42
Padres – $5.39
Mariners – $4.36
Mets – $3.74
Nationals – $3.7

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For those who checked out today’s effort and were expecting more text than we have provided, our apologies. Please keep in mind that the photo department — as well as the editorial department to a lesser extent — do believe a picture is worth a thousand words. In which case, there’s several thousand words worth here (depending on how you look at things — most notably how you look at photos of attractive females in swimsuits or other attire).