{"playerId":1392,"percentChange":0,"averageDraftPosition":63.6,"percentOwned":100,"playerRaterSEASON":4.8,"playerRater7DAY":1.9,"mostRecentNews":{"news":"Shields struck out 10 over 7.1 innings of three-run (two earned) ball Wednesday against the Jays, but received no decision. He allowed seven hits and a walk.","spin":"The 10 punchouts were Shields' second-best total of the season. Despite the lack of a win, this was a nice outing for the righty after he surrendered 21 runs (16 earned) in 30.1 innings over his last five starts.","date":"Wed May 23"},"fullName":"James Shields","seasonOutlook":{"outlook":"In order to get a more accurate snapshot of Shields, ignore the surface stats and focus on his skills and expected ERA, in this case xFIP, which is how his skills should have translated by incorporating his actual K/9 and BB/9 while regressing his BABIP and HR/FB to league norms. His ERA from 2009 -2011 has been 4.14, 5.18 and 2.82 as compared to an xFIP string of 3.85, 3.55 and 3.25. So it is clear that 2010 was unlucky, 2011 was lucky, and overall, Shields is honing his skills. Looking at said skills, Shields' walk rate has remained level, well below league average, but he has increased his K/9 by well over a full whiff, hopping from 6.8 in '09 to 8.1 last season. On top of that, he has increased his ground ball rate by 5 percent, meaning fewer homers. Because he resides in the AL East, Shields is burdened with the fact that his team has to face the Red Sox and Yankees 19 times each, but this is a case of double dipping as his aforementioned peripherals already account for that, rendering Shields a potential value play.","seasonId":2012,"date":"Fri Feb 10"},"playerRater30DAY":3.2,"playerRater15DAY":1.9,"positionRank":21}