Ben Sheets leaves game with injury; elbow issue lingering since August 26 (reply #29)

[JJHardy7]

I think Sheets blew his cover and it's going to cost him big time. He went from a 3-4 year $75 million neighborhood, to if he's lucky 2 year incentive laden deal at best. Personally I wouldn't guarantee him more than $8 million for one year with an extra million for ever 50 IP he pitches in 09, and a team option for say $12 million in 10.

 

I agree with most of your thoughts. I do think that there's quite a bit we don't know, but you do bring up some good questions. I'm not a huge Sheets guy because of his injuries, but I would do $8 million for one year. I just think he'll still get more than that if this injury isn't all that serious. If he's having major surgery, he'll really be taking a beating in terms of money lost.

[Patrick425]

he's lucky 2 year incentive laden deal at best.

Whatever team offers him an incentive laden deal, better be careful. He's pitched 190+ innings this year which would meet most incetive contracts. The problem is that he can't seem to complete a season and be there when his team needs him the most. If I'm a GM looking to sign him I would tie most of the incentive not only to IP but to him either pitching during the last week of the season or in the playoffs.

 

The problem with incentive laden contracts that are tied to number of ABs or IPs is that it rewards the player who covers up and plays through an injury in order to meet the incentive.

[naivin]

Sheets will do ok contract-wise, although I suspect it will be in the vain of what the Brewers did with Gagne. I don't see him getting the years he otherwise might have, but his per year number will likely still be pretty high. He'll probably get a couple years, at $15+ per. Not exactly the 4-5 years he was probably hoping for, but the good news is he is young enough that he will at least get the opportunity to still earn another decent contract.

 

Now, if this ends up in surgery, he will probably still get a 2-year deal (he'll need next year to recover and anyone making the investment will want some return the following year), but the per year number will be much, much lower.

 

All of that said, if I'm the brewers, I'd take the money and try to put it toward some other pitcher. The risk-reward on Sheets seems better suited for a larger matrket team.

[jeffy]

Sheets needs to stop swinging the bat. Just try for walks.

 

Perhaps he'll take care of that issue by signing with an AL team. Which would be nice in that the Brewers will not have to face him much, if at all.

[crewcrazy]

Unless it is a Tommy John-type thing, I don't think Ben's FA status will fall all that much. All it takes is one desperate team from New York looking to open up their new ballpark with a bang to change what a lot of people think he "should" get. If anything, he'll have trouble getting a 4th or 5th year now, but the per-year average is still going to be pretty high, IMO. He's not going to be taking a paycut from his current salary.

[yount19.u]

Unless he needs surgery and the recovery time cuts into the start of next season, someone will give Sheets 4-5 years without batting an eye. There's always a couple GM's out there that refuse to look at the history of long term pitching deals that have backfired over the years. As long as his arm isn't falling off, Sheets will be a very rich man this off season.

 

I hope this isn't anything serious for the Brewer's sake, though. What happens if he has to have surgery and miss part of next season. Does his free agency class A status become affected and the Brewers miss out on draft picks? If his value were to go down significantly, what kind of arbitration do they have to offer in order to get those picks? If no one beats their offer, they could be stuck with damaged goods at a high price.

 

Forget the Cubs curse. Someone definitely does not want the Crew in the playoffs. Up until the Sheets injury, it was the teams fault for blowing the wild card lead. Now it appears plain old bad luck may keep them out.

[TooLiveBrew]

Whenever the team needs him most, he whimpers out with an "injury". Typical Ben Sheets.

 

This is crazy. The team has needed him all season long, and he's been right there. Stupid faker Sheets! You didn't even wanna be out there against the Cubs!

 

How can anyone call Ben Sheets weak or a wuss after this revelation?

 

The man pitched a complete game shutout a few weeks ago with an ailing elbow! He's lost little to none of his effectiveness.

 

Thank you. Like Ennder said -- does it suck? Of course. But let's stop with the 'oh, what a baby' stuff. Yost abused the crap out of Sheets all year long. Always great when your manager publicly declares that he doesn't worry about pitch counts until they get up into the 120 range.

[fondybrewfan]

Will the Brewers even end up offering him arbitration if he ends up needing surgery and miss most of if not all of 2009? I can't imagine Doug would take the risk of Ben accepting arbitration. This injury could cost us a couple draft picks. In arby you can't offer less than 30% of his current salary correct?

[Bring Back the Stein]

My reticence to support Sheets and what he does to inject uncertainty in to the equation has nothing to do with his toughness. I'll concede what a manly, manly man he is. Great. I had a great uncle who took out his rotten tooth with pliers. He was tough. And later he was dead with lockjaw. So whatever. Ben, you are tough. You are also unreliable, which complicates management decisions and, selfishly, makes Jello out of the souls of Brewers fans.

 

As for hiding the injury, Jenkins hid a broken hip. It wouldn't surprise me if we later learned that Bill Hall had died four weeks ago of Planter's wart and was being animated by Dan Caplinger and puppet strings. Bah. This team.

[Ennder]

I doubt this decreases his value in any way unless he needs surgery. I'll say it again, it doesn't surprise me one bit that his arm is hurting him as he already had a 50 IP jump over last year. Yost should have been shutting him down at 100 pitches every game instead of pushing him an extra inning every chance he got. Same with Parra who is also hitting the wall because of the huge innings jump.

[Fatter than Joey]

In arby you can't offer less than 30% of his current salary correct?

 

I think it is 80% i.e. a 20% cut is the least the Brewers can offer