James Shields still unsigned; are the Chicago Cubs in on him?

It seems far-fetched. Improbable. Even flat-out insane.

Yet the longer free agent right-hander James Shields sits on the open market, the more I (wishfully) hope and ponder him coming to the Chicago Cubs to form a dominant one-two punch with left-hander Jon Lester.

The latest reports seem to be about as sure about where Shields is headed as I would be driving down a country back road in the middle of the night with no headlights. The San Diego Padres, a team that has been one of – if not the busiest teams this offseason, are supposedly ‘sniffing around’ on him and he’s ‘guaranteed’ at least $80 million over a four-year deal.

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To be honest, I’m conflicted when it comes to the potential signing of Shields. On one hand, he’s been one of the most dependable, healthy starting pitchers in all of Major League Baseball in recent years – making at least 30 starts every year for the last eight seasons, also eclipsing 200 innings in each of those campaigns, as well.

On the other hand, a four-year deal (at a bare minimum) would take Shields into his age 36 season – when durability and longevity become very real concerns – especially for an arm that, keeping up his pace of 227 innings per season, would be pushing 2,900 frames of work during his big league career.

Heading into 2015, Shields has 1,910 innings under his belt, compared to Max Scherzer‘s 1,239 and Jon Lester’s 1,596. Needless to say, his workload has been notably heavier than his former free agent counterparts.

It is for this very reason alone that the Cubs, despite how intriguing this team would be with another quality starting pitcher in the mix, should sit pat until next offseason. There’s no doubt Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer will add another front-line arm at some point in the next 12 months, whether it be via trade (Philadelphia Phillies’ Cole Hamels) or free agency after the 2015 season, when all types of interesting possibilities open up.

Next offseason, the likes of Zack Greinke, Mat Latos, Rick Porcello, David Price, Jeff Samardzija and Jordan Zimmerman could all be on the open market. That gives the Cubs more than a handful of options – all of whom are relatively young and many of whom have ties in one way or another to the organization (Samarzdija, Price).

It’s not that James Shields is not a quality starting pitcher. But with the Cubs building for the long haul, adding a piece like the veteran righty just doesn’t make sense with the options looming if the team sits pat for just one more year.

I’ll take a slightly less impressive 2015 starting rotation if it means Chicago can add one of the aforementioned names heading into 2016.

David Price and Jon Lester at the top of a staff? Yes, please.

Next: Jon Lester not a fan of proposed pitch clock