Has White Sox starter Shields made himself trade bait?
He's already been traded two times in his 13-year career.
Is there one more deal in the works for James Shields?
The Chicago White Sox's 36-year-old starting pitching seemingly had little or no value the past two seasons, when he was a combined 11-26 with an ERA well north of 5.00.
Even this year, Shields' numbers (1-6, 4.48 ERA) would not figure to interest a contending team, but the veteran right-hander pitched at least 6 innings for the eighth straight start Saturday in the Sox's 5-0 interleague loss to the Brewers at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Eating up innings and saving the bullpen are important attributes for any team, and Shields' value has definitely been rising.
Has he thought about being traded in the near future?
"I've been around the game a long time and I understand that process," Shields said after pitching 7-plus innings against Milwaukee and allowing 3 runs on 8 hits. "But I can't control that. What I can control is what I do out there every five days. My job is to go out there and throw as many innings as I possibly can and do my job.
"I'm going to focus on that and focus on trying to get some (wins) for this team. It hasn't come my way over the last month or so."
Shields has been a good soldier on a White Sox team in obvious transition, but he refuses to blame the mounting losses on the rebuild.
"Frankly I don't really care about the rebuild right now," Shields said. "I care about winning. They keep talking about rebuild and I'm trying to win ballgames right now, period. I don't like losing. We are losing ballgames right now."
All 3 of the Brewers' runs off Shields were on solo home runs, from Erik Kravitz, Jonathan Villar and Lorenzo Cain.
Final tuneup?
Carlos Rodon makes his fourth minor-league rehabilitation start Sunday, and third with Class AAA Charlotte.
If all continues to go well, Rodon's next start figures to be with the White Sox at Boston over the weekend.
Coming back from Sept. 27 arthroscopic shoulder surgery, the left-hander is 1-0 with a 0.71 ERA in rehab starts with Charlotte and low Class A Kannapolis.
"He's looking very good," Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "He's sound and healthy, thank goodness."
In a May 24 start with Charlotte, Rodon was struck in the forehead by a line drive hit by Norfolk's D'Arby Myers. He had to exit with two outs in the third inning.
Rodon made his next start, Tuesday for Charlotte, and had 8 strikeouts over 5 scoreless innings.
The 25-year-old pitcher instantly upgrades the White Sox's rotation.
"He is obviously a guy that's got a pretty good arm and a lot of action and has in the past shown you that he can eat up innings," Renteria said. "All our guys try to give us length, obviously it doesn't always happen. That being said, (Rodon) has a history of being able to accomplish that."
Bear weather:
It was 62 degrees with winds out of the north when Sox starter James Shields took the mound against the Brewers Saturday.
It felt like football weather, which made it fitting for a visit from the Chicago Bears' 2018 rookie class. Linebacker Roquan Smith, the Bears' first-round draft pick, threw the ceremonial first pitch.