Padres squarely in postseason hunt with addition of James Shields

Take a seat and kick up your feet, A.J. Preller. Your work here is done.

Or is it?

While the San Diego Padres' first-year general manager could have rested on his transactions at several points this offseason and considered it a success, he never has. In fact, Preller has done nothing but work since taking the job in August, overseeing an aggressive and expensive overhaul of San Diego's major league roster. An overhaul that actually got a little more aggressive and a lot more expensive when he inked pitcher James Shields to the largest free-agent contract in franchise history.

The signing ends the unexpectedly drawn-out drama surrounding Shields' free agency. At one point, it was believed Shields could land somewhere between $100 million-$110 million over four or five years on the open market. However, as the weeks passed by, the likelihood of such an expensive contract passed along with it, which no doubt piqued Preller's interest.

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With the market working in his favor, Preller jumped in strong over the past couple of weeks. As the rumors changed and Shields' self-imposed deadline neared, the one constant was San Diego's interest in Shields. The pursuit paid off, and now the Padres have a new ace with which to battle the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.

Though it shattered the Padres' previous free-agent record — Joaquin Benoit's two-year, $15 million deal signed in 2013 — Shields comes at a relative bargain. He ends up settling on a four-year deal worth $72 million-$76 million, according to SB Nation's Chris Cotillo, who was first to report an agreement was in place in Monday's wee hours. The deal, according to Cotillo, includes a club option for a fifth season.

Looking at the bigger picture, we wouldn't say adding Shields is the final piece in a championship puzzle, but he's an important piece if San Diego hopes to end its eight-year postseason drought. Up until now, Preller's focus has been almost exclusively on upgrading his offense. In quick succession, he completely reworked his outfield, acquiring Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers in three separate trades. He also added All-Star catcher Derek Norris and brought over third baseman Will Middlebrooks from the Boston Red Sox.

San Diego's last-ranked offense has nowhere to go but up, and adding that support to Yonder Alonso and Jedd Gyorko could rocket the Padres to the middle of the pack. Considering the pitcher-friendly environment at Petco Park and the team's fourth-best ERA (3.27) in MLB last season, such a jump would be significant.

Even with all of those good things in place though, there was still an obvious need for a workhorse atop of the rotation, and the 33-year-old Shields brings exactly that pedigree. In each of his eight full seasons, Shields has thrown at least 203 innings. Over the last four seasons, he's gone over 227 innings each time. When he's your anchor, it becomes much easier to place talent around him. Now a veteran like Ian Kennedy can be the No. 3 or No. 4 pitcher he should be. Now Andrew Cashner doesn't have the pressure of being THE ace in San Diego. Now a rising star like Tyson Ross can develop at his own pace. It really gives the team a needed foundation.

As spring training approaches, it will be a matter of staying healthy and keeping the foundation strong. If the Padres can do that, there's no reason to think they can't earn a postseason berth. But they'll still have to chase down those Giants and Dodgers to get it.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813