The blame for Shields is wishful thinking on the part of the front office. They got off to a blistering start, then they gave it all back similar to this year’s Mets. They chose to believe that they could somehow contend rather than looking at the evidence that the team just wasn’t that good. Even if Shields had been good, the trade would have been disastrous. The fact that he was bad is just the cherry on top. I remember that the details of the trade leaked out and Keith Law was like “Nooooo!” He had scouts from other orgs telling him that, were he eligible for the draft, He Who Shall Not Be Named would have been picked 1-1. We ought to hire those scouts.