James Shields, Wade Davis To Royals for Wil Myers and Prospects

The coveted Myers may start in left field for Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay has agreed to trade James Shields and Wade Davis to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for 2012 Minor League Player of the year Wil Myers and prospects in a blockbuster deal.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN said other players are involved in the trade, but the Kansas City just confirmed they are right-hander Jake Odorizzi, left-hander Mike Montgomery and third baseman Patrick Leonard.

Tampa Bay General Manager Andrew Friedman said, “Personally, I think this is the most difficult trade we’ve made to date.James is a true professional pitcher, and we’re going to miss his contributions on & off the field.”

Myers hit hit .314/.387/.600 with 37 homers and 109 RBI between Double- and Triple-A last season. He will need to cut down on the strikeouts, but is considered one of the games top right-handed power prospects.

Shields went went 15-10 this past season with a 3.52 ERA.

Shields has tossed 200+ innings for six consecutive seasons and has a career mark of 87-73 with a 3.89 ERA and will join a Kansas City rotation that includes, Ervin Santana, Jeremy Guthrie, Bruce Chen, and possibly Davis competing with Luke Hochevar for a spot.

Davis came up as a starter, but was moved to the bullpen last year and posted a 2.43 ERA, while striking out 11.1 batters per nine innings pitched.

It is unclear how Kansas City will use him, as a starter or as a reliever.

Odorizzi posted a 3.03 ERA in 145 innings of work in 2012, and pitched two games at the big-league level.

The deal reportedly had been in the works and the teams were very close to completing the transaction at last week’s Winter Meetings, but the two teams could not agree on the players that word to be included in the trade at that time.