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Rays Shut Down Shields' Season

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By MARC LANCASTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

Updated: 09/19/2007 01:22 am

ANAHEIM, Calif. - James Shields' breakout season came to an abrupt and unexpected end Tuesday.

The Devil Rays' foremost innings-eater was undone by his most prominent trait, as the team decided to shut him down for the season - effective immediately - to avoid risking long-term damage to his arm. The 25-year-old has pitched 215 innings, 29 more than the career-high 186 he pitched between Durham and Tampa Bay last year.

The Rays emphasized that Shields is healthy, though the pitcher acknowledged being a bit fatigued. J.P. Howell will get Shields' scheduled start today against the Angels.

Manager Joe Maddon and Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman made the final decision Monday night and Maddon informed Shields when the pitcher arrived at the ballpark Tuesday.

'I was pretty shocked,' Shields said. 'I'm honestly not too happy with the decision.'

That was the reaction Maddon expected, but he stuck to his guns when Shields tried to sway his manager's opinion.

'I didn't expect him to be entirely happy about it, but he understood,' Maddon said. 'He told me he felt great, he feels as good as he has all year and all that kind of stuff. I appreciate that, but I just wasn't going to be talked out of it.'

The Rays have kept a close eye on the workloads of Shields and Scott Kazmir - and all of the young pitchers throughout their system - this season. The team has done extensive research on the correlation between a sharp year-to-year increase in innings pitched and subsequent arm injuries suffered by young pitchers.

Maddon said he spoke to Shields after his last two starts in an effort to gauge how the pitcher was responding late in the season. Though Shields - known for being as fierce a competitor as the Rays have - insisted he felt fine, Maddon believed it was time to pull the plug.

A Southern California native and resident, Shields had numerous family and friends coming to today's game, which only added to his disappointment. But his overall reaction to the news would have been the same no matter where his next start was scheduled to take place.

'I'm the type of guy who wants to go out and take the ball every fifth day,' Shields said. 'I don't turn down starts. Unless I can't walk to the park, I'm not turning down a start. That's just the way I am. I'm a workhorse and I like to eat innings up, I like to pitch, and I want to be that guy that this team can count on every fifth day. It's kind of disappointing that I can't finish the season out, but it is what it is.'

Shields finishes the year with a 12-8 record that deserved to be better but was torpedoed by more than a few late-inning collapses. He posted a 3.85 ERA and held opponents to a .247 batting average. His 184 strikeouts and 36 walks gave him the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.1) in the majors behind Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia (5.66).

The ending wasn't what he wanted, but Shields can take a month off before beginning his off-season program around Nov. 1 feeling good about what he accomplished.

'I'm very, very pleased with what I've done this year,' he said. 'I think players have a lot of expectations on themselves, and I have real high expectations of myself. I think that I've pretty much met my expectations this season.'

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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