Kansas City Royals Acquire James Shields, Wade Davis from Tampa Bay Rays for Wil Myers

A week after baseball's winter meetings, the Tampa Bay Rays, and Kansas City Royals completed a deal sending James Shields and Wade Davis from Tampa Bay for top prospects Wil Meyers and Jake Odorizzi. The Royals also sent two other minor leaguers to the Rays.

The deal is a gamble for the Royals, as they decided to include their top prospects to help bolster their starting rotation for next year.

For the Rays last season, Shields, who turns 31 in January, was an All-Star two years ago when he went 16-12 with a 2.92 ERA. He also finished third in the American League Cy Young voting that year. This year, he went 15-10 with a 3.52 ERA. He also pitched 227 and two-thirds innings; the sixth time he has pitched over 200 innings in his career.

Davis went 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA in the bullpen last year.

The Royals starting rotation will feature Shields, newly signed Ervin Santana, and Jeremy Guthrie, along with Bruce Chen and Luis Mendoza. Davis could join the rotation as well.

For Tampa Bay, Meyers turns 22 today, and has a bright future. In the minors last  year, the outfielder hit .314 with 37 home runs, 109 RBIs in 134 games at Northwest Arkansas and Triple=A Omaha.

Odorizzi went 15-5 with a 3.03 ERA for Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha.