If the Tigers really aren't planning to make another offer to free-agent starter Max Scherzer, perhaps they might make one to James Shields.
According to FOX Sports' Jon Morosi, the Tigers have been in "recent" contact with Page Odle, the agent for James Shields.
Source: James Shields' agent, Page Odle, has been in "recent" contact with the #Tigers. Shields and David Price are close friends.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 16, 2015
Morosi said the extent of the Tigers' interest in Shields is unclear.
At 33, Shields is three years older than Scherzer.
Last season, Shields went 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 227 innings for the Kansas City Royals, who lost to San Francisco in the World Series.
Shields is a workhorse, making more than 30 starts and pitching more than 200 innings in every season except his first in 2006 with the Tampa Bay Rays (21 starts, 124 2/3 innings).
Scherzer was 18-5 with a 3.15 ERA and 1.18 WHIP last season, a nice follow-up to his Cy Young season in 2013 in which he went 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and 0.97 WHIP.
Scherzer has made 31 or more starts in every season with the Tigers, starting in 2010, but has thrown more than 200 innings just twice, 214 1/3 innings in 2013 and 220 1/3 innings last season.
Morosi said that Shields is likely to command a deal worth less than the six-year, $144 million contract the Tigers offered Scherzer last spring.
Morosi also noted that Shields is good friends with David Price from their days in Tampa.
