Are Giants out on James Shields after signing Jake Peavy?

News broke late last night that Jake Peavy had re-signed with the Giants, choosing to extend his time in San Francisco after the Red Sox sent him to the eventual World Series winners in July.

It's a move that may seem entirely unrelated to the Red Sox. While Peavy did his part in getting the team to the 2013 World Series, he also did his part in sinking the 2014 ship, which is why they traded him away in the first place. If there are no hard feelings there, there's also little reason for Boston to believe that Peavy is what they need in the rotation, even after finishing the year strong in San Francisco.

Where Peavy's deal could come into play is in Boston's search for a front-line pitcher to cap off their revamped rotation, particularly if you expect that pitcher to be James Shields. The Giants have been in on most of the biggest-name free agents this offseason, from Pablo Sandoval to Jon Lester, and James Shields is no exception, with the Giants regularly listed as one of the teams pursuing the veteran righty.

With Peavy on board, however, there really isn't any room for Shields. The Giants add Peavy to a rotation already featuring Madison Bumgarner, Tim Hudson, Matt Cain, and Yusmiero Petit with Ryan Vogelsong as depth. Tim Lincecum is even hanging around, shell of his old self though he may be. Peavy is hardly analogous to Shields these days, even after his time in San Francisco next year, so it may seem strange that the Giants turned to Peavy instead of Shields while the latter is still on the market, but assistant GM Bobby Evans suggested they wouldn't be interested in coming up empty-handed at the end of another long fight like with Sandoval and Lester, and with Shields' market showing little movement, their desire to have their rotation set in stone may have won out.

So if the Red Sox view Shields as the final piece to their rotation puzzle, they now have one less serious bidder to contend with. What's not entirely clear is how many that leaves in the fight, or what that fight is even going to look like. At least with someone like Scherzer, the question is only "ridiculously high, or really ridiculously high". Shields could end up being a three-to-four year bargain, or dragged up into Lester territory if the Scherzer deal gets done first and there's enough desperation going around. It's anyone's guess.

Whenever that market does materialize, though, the Giants will likely be watching from the sidelines courtesy of Jake Peavy.