Sheets watch (closed in deference to new thread)

[BrewCrewForever]

According to mlbtraderumors, the Yanks may offer 2 yrs./ 26 mil. to Sheets. To me, that's a steal for the Yankees. If I were Melvin, I'd offer that to him, even with the Sabathia situation still unclear.

 

Link

I agree, a 2 year deal is not that big of a risk. It would be worth it, especially because the Sabathia signing still seems a pipe dream to me.

[rluzinski]

Marcel Projections for 2009:

 

Sheets: 3.60 ERA, 171 IP

Sabathia: 3.22 ERA, 211 IP

 

CC clearly projects to be the superior pitcher, both in performance and innings. Offering Sheets $15 mil already has that injury risk built in. He would be worth more if he projected to have 200+ IP next year. In contrast, CC's projection assumes that he's basically healthy for the entire year.

 

CC at 6/$140 is probably more of a risk than Sheets at 2/$30 or even 3/$45. There's no question that CC is the bigger risk if an opt out is offered. I've seen estimated that say Sheets is worth $43 mil over 3 years even if you assume he will only pitch 430 innings over that period.

[danzig6767]

According to mlbtraderumors, the Yanks may offer 2 yrs./ 26 mil. to Sheets. To me, that's a steal for the Yankees. If I were Melvin, I'd offer that to him, even with the Sabathia situation still unclear.

 

Link

I get the sense that it's not just money with Sheets, that he really doesn't want to pitch in Milwaukee anymore

[Hate those Rodents]

I'm betting Ben wins 17+ games next year. I know most will take the under and that's precisely why Ben no longer wants to play here.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Maybe Ben is tired of getting treated like a second fiddle by management and fans alike. Its one thing to make CC the priority, its another to not even make Sheets an offer. He is probably still upset we didnt offer him a contract extension last offseason. I just home Ben doesnt go to the yankees as I dont think my heart can take that.

[RyDogg66]

Yeah only two teams out there that I would not like Sheets to sign with, Yankees and Cubs. It might also be hard to see him on the Astros or Cardinals, but nothing would sting like Yankees or Cubs.

[BrewCrewForever]

Yeah only two teams out there that I would not like Sheets to sign with, Yankees and Cubs. It might also be hard to see him on the Astros or Cardinals, but nothing would sting like Yankees or Cubs.

My thoughts exactly the two sports franchises I hate the most are the Yankees and Cubs. So seeing Ben or CC in ether of those jerseys would be too much to take. Puke.

[Crew2323]

I get the sense that it's not just money with Sheets, that he really doesn't want to pitch in Milwaukee anymore

Danzig, I completely agree with your sentiment. I, too, believe he doesn't want to pitch in Milwaukee anymore. But we don't know if that is exactly the case. So why not offer him 2yr/26 mil, or maybe 2 yr/ 30 mil? Give it a shot and see what happens. The worst he can say is no. And if he says yes, going into next season, you have the same rotation that you started with to begin last season.

 

Yeah only two teams out there that I would not like Sheets to sign with, Yankees and Cubs. It might also be hard to see him on the Astros or Cardinals, but nothing would sting like Yankees or Cubs.

I don't like the Yankees, Cubs, or Red Sox for that matter either. Yet, I would find it most painful to watch Sheets pitch for a division or league rival, considering we would have to face him multiple times during the season. That would sting much more to me, moreso than seeing him on a team I loathe, knowing he won't have the opportunity to pitch against the Brewers. Example: I had a sick feeling in my stomach every time Coco Cordero came into to close out a game this past year against the Brewers, or whenever Carlos Lee comes up to bat against the Crew. That stings much more, because it has the potential to impact my favorite team in a very direct way.

[Crewin06]

Personally I hope that the Dodgers sign CC Sabathia and the Yankees or Astros sign Ben Sheets. I would love to have the 17th and the 26th picks in this year's draft.

 

Quick question- now that you get extra picks if you top pick doesn't sign is that pick included if you sign multiple type-A Free Agents. I don't think it is but it would be interesting because this year the Yankees have the 26th and 29th pick in the draft. The 29th pick in the draft is because they failed to sign their first round pick from last season.

[CportBadger]

The Yanks compensation pick is protected.

[twobrewers]

I think at 2 years and 26 million Melvin needs to step in.

 

Even if Ben doesn't want to pitch in Milwaukee, at least Doug can say we offered the same contract and Ben just wanted to pitch elsewhere.

[JJHardy7]

Even if Ben doesn't want to pitch in Milwaukee, at least Doug can say we offered the same contract and Ben just wanted to pitch elsewhere.

 

Who is to say that they haven't talked about it or have reached some type of understanding?

[kramnoj]

I think it should be clear that the Brewers have absolutely no interest in signing Sheets to any multi-year contract. They were willing to go one year with arbitration, but that's it. They made no offer at all to Sheets to retain him before he was a free agent, and have made no effort to talk to him now to bring him back.

 

Melvin has said that if CC doesn't come back, a SP will probably be acquired via trade, not FA. I think that is more deserving of discussion, but I guess it's too broad to really understand who would be available, and what it would take to get such a pitcher.

[ttsather]

With the Yankees apparently closing in on Derek Lowe, perhaps we will not see Ben Sheets in pinstripes?

 

Though, I suppose this really wouldn't have much of an effect on New York's ability to give Ben 2 yrs/32 MM or something.

[jjfanec]

With the Yankees apparently closing in on Derek Lowe, perhaps we will not see Ben Sheets in pinstripes?

 

Though, I suppose this really wouldn't have much of an effect on New York's ability to give Ben 2 yrs/32 MM or something.

So 4 years 66 million for Lowe and 7 years 160 million for CC. That is just under 40 million for those two pitchers. Their rotation would be CC, Sheets, Wang, Joba and either another free agent or Hughes.

[endaround]

And they still have like another $40m to spend from last year's team salary.

[GoudaBrew]

I'm still holding out hope that Sheets signs with the Brewers. With Yanks getting CC and Lowe (at least it looks that way), they might not be in on Sheets anymore. With Lowe getting over $15 million per, I'd say a 2 year deal around $28-30 million could entice Ben to stay, assuming those bridges haven't be burned.

 

Sheets could be a real steal. He could out perform Lowe and Burnett and cost a fraction of what they're getting. Of course, we all know what else could happen. But there is some element of risk taken with every player and if we could get Sheets on a 2 year deal we'd have to jump at it in my opinion.

[giffted1]

I'm also holding out hope that we can bring Sheets back. Sure, there was speculation that he's annoyed at the crew for focusing on CC, but there was also speculation that the Brewers were the front-runner for CC. Sheets may look like one of the biggest risks on the market in terms of FA pitching, but out of that group he brings the highest potential reward as well, IMO.

[Oldcity]

Really hoping the Brewers are working on Sheets, but it may already be too late.

 

Edit: So Melvin "visited" with Sheets' agent, but isn't even discussing an offer. Huh?

[MillerParkSouth]

It's kind of frustrating that Melvin seems like he's opposed to making Sheets any kind of offer. Has he seen what our rotation is going to look like next year? I'd rather gamble with Sheets than trade Prince and open up other holes.

[TooLiveBrew]

Since it seems so counter-intuitive, I wonder what kind of info Melvin has on Sheets's health/elbow. You'd have to think that if they thought his elbow would be ok, they'd be all about retaining him.

[kramnoj]

Since it seems so counter-intuitive, I wonder what kind of info Melvin has on Sheets's health/elbow. You'd have to think that if they thought his elbow would be ok, they'd be all about retaining him.

 

The Brewers never made an offer to Sheets when his elbow was healthy. I get the sense that the Brewers wouldn't extend an offer to Sheets without seeing if he could make it healthy through a season. Even though Sheets put together a very good season with a good amount of IP, the fact that he wasn't there at the end may have crushed the chances of the Brewers offering a multi-year deal to Sheets.

[TooLiveBrew]

True but elbow injuries like his don't just happen all of a sudden. There tends to be soreness and/or indicators leading up to it that any competent medical staff should be able to recognize. Of course if Sheets was hiding everything then that's a different situation.

[Oldcity]

Yes but if the Brewers had some damning information concerning his health they wouldn't have offered him arbitration.

[TooLiveBrew]

Touche. In any event, if Sheets's health isn't a huge risk heading forward, I have no idea why the Brewers haven't made an offer. Maybe they don't want to set the price?