For $9 mil/yr. Yeah it's easy to second guess the best in the business. I can see waiting on a guy like Shields, even though he ended up costing more than he should have... Maybe he wants to sign Cobb for 5 years instead of 3, and that's worth waiting until the end for. He's every bit the no-brainer re-up as Nelson is. And he'd have been cheaper a year ago.