Ben Sheets to A's - 1 year, $10 million plus incentives

[logan82]

Hopefully he doesn't end up getting traded to a division rival late in the year. Of course we will probably be out of contention by then and he will be worn down.

[AJAY]

It frustrates me that when Ben was really good, the rest of the team was lousy. And then when the team became really good, Ben couldn't stay healthy. It just seems like his whole era with the Brewers never worked out the way any of us wanted. It's one of the great disappointments in Brewers history (in my opinion).

 

Anyway, I am kind of glad he signed with a low-profile team that is several time zones away and in relative obscurity. The A's are probably my least favorite franchise in baseball and so I feel better that he has gone there rather than to the Cubs or Phillies or some place like that.

[TooLiveBrew]

It frustrates me that when Ben was really good, the rest of the team was lousy. And then when the team became really good, Ben couldn't stay healthy. It just seems like his whole era with the Brewers never worked out the way any of us wanted. It's one of the great disappointments in Brewers history (in my opinion)

 

If it makes you feel any better, there's no way the '08 team gets to the postseason without his excellent 198.1 IP

[crewcrazy]

disappeared when the club needed him most.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL200809060.shtml

 

Anyway (it's an old argument that makes no sense to rehash now), no #15?

 

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100126/capt.6d4f5ab821a945f99777a9104e7eab85.athletics_sheets_baseball_oas102.jpg

Looks like #15 is already taken by Ryan Sweeney. He looks better in the green and gold than I thought he would, but maybe I'm just used to seeing him in navy blue.

[TooLiveBrew]

It'd probably be nice to update the $ figure in the thread title. Seems the $10M guaranteed is reported everywhere.

[TheCrew]

Ask yourself, who would you rather have for the coming season? Doug Davis and LaTroy Hawkins, or Sheets?

Without a doubt it would be Davis and Hawkins - they are also cheaper.

 

Sheets has logged 150+ once in the past 4 years and hasn't pitched in over a year. Coffey/Hawkins/Hoffmann will be a tough late inning combo. Davis is more durable, now if you could guarantee Sheets was gonna give you 200+ it's a different story but unfortunately he just hasn't been durable in recent years.

[DSFastball55]

Sad day for me. I've been secretly holding out hope for him to return to Milwaukee. I can honestly say he is/was my favorite Brewer ever.

[colbyjack]

This signing reminds me of the day the Brewers drafted him. The A's were pegged, I believe drafting one spot ahead of the Brewers in 1999, to be a lock to take Sheets if he fell that far. The A's signed catcher Gerald Laird as a draft-and-follow a few days before the draft for a pretty hefty seven-figure deal, and went with Barry Zito (which obviously still turned out to be a great pick) on draft day, who signed for significantly less than slot. The Brewers were prepared to take Brett Myers, but were elated to have Sheets fall to their spot (I think at #10).

 

I only bring this up because there's a good chance that Billy Beane has been pining for Sheets ever since. We've seen it with Melvin and former Rangers he was involved with, and it's something that is quite frequent across MLB. I'm happy as heck for Sheets to land that kind of money for not even pitching last year, and even more happy that he didn't sign with the Cubs.

[1992casey]

my question is...why doesn't MLB award the Brewers compensation this draft? They offered arbitration last year, he turned it down. He used a loophole of sorts to help the Brewers lose their rights over his contract.

 

It's not a loophole. It's written clearly into the CBA that after a certain date (in June?), compensation is no longer awarded. This accomplishes a couple of things:

• Players won't be left totally in the cold if teams balk at giving up a draft choice.
• Players have an incentive to reduce their monetary demands in order to play a full season.

[ELCABALLO45]

Sad day for me as well.

 

Ben Sheets will always be my all time fav Brewer pitcher.

 

When he was on, there was no one else I would rather watch pitch

[AJAY]

If it makes you feel any better, there's no way the '08 team gets to the postseason without his excellent 198.1 IP

 

I don't disagree with that at all, but my disappointment lies with him not being healthy down the stretch and heading into the postseason. We had to over-use Sabathia partially because Sheets went down. As a result, Sabathia obviously didn't have anything left once the playoffs came around. If Sheets was healthy, Jeff Suppan also would not have pitched Game 4 against the Phillies either.

 

Who knows what could have happened with a healthy and stronger 1-2 punch.

[FriarHouketh]

My immediate thought after seeing this signing is, "Welp, now we'll see if it was us or him."

[Brian Otten]

This is a nice look back on Ben Sheets' career as a Brewer. View gallery.

[DougJones43]

We had to over-use Sabathia partially because Sheets went down

Ned Yost was also partially to blame for that. Sabathia was often left in games (with very high pitch counts) that were already well in hand, for things like complete games or just because.

[sheethead]

Having an injury doesn't necessarily mean someone "disappears," as if he just didn't want to be there or simply wasn't "clutch."

 

 

Allow me to clarify... when I say "disappear" I mean "to pass from view" or "pass out of notice." I didn't think people would infer that disappear means to not be clutch or doesn't want to be there. I used the word for its literal meaning, not its inferred or implied contexts.

 

I was a fan, but now he is playing for another team. My allegiance is with the Brewers, not Ben Sheets. And FWIW, I would definitely take Davis and Hawkins in 2010 over Ben Sheets. If I was a Yankee fan and could take a flier on someone like Sheets, rather than have to actually count on him, then I would rather have Sheets in 2010.

[Invader3K]

Exactly. The Brewers don't play in the kind of market where they can afford to gamble $10 million+ on an oft-injured starting pitcher who hasn't played in over a year at this point.

 

I think someone else may have been right that the A's may have been feeling some pressure to spend more money this off-season after what happened with the Marlins.

[endaround]

No they play in market where they gamble $10m on an oft injured closer. Or $10m on overated mediocrity.

[sheethead]

I just think Beane is trying to Flip That Sheets. They don't stand a chance in that division.

[sheethead]

No they play in market where they gamble $10m on an oft injured closer. Or $10m on overated mediocrity.

 

Hopefully Melvin has learned his lesson, albeit the hard way.

[Invader3K]

I know you're referring to Gagne, but at that point the Brewers had a very solid rotation and didn't have a need there.

[monty57]

I like Ben, and hope he does well and remains injury-free, so he can live up to his potential.

 

That said, the Brewers' lack of depth at SP meant that they had to go with more reliable starters. They couldn't take a flier on a guy who's likely to spend some time on the shelf this season. If the Brewers signed him, and he pitched to potential, it'd be a great move. The likely scenario is that he'd log 130 or so innings, meaning they'd need to go to AAA for help and we'd be in a situation similar to last season.

 

High risk/high reward is lauded by many on this site, but Melvin needed to do some risk reduction in the rotation this off-season. His high-risk/high reward guys will be in AAA in the form of Mulder and Capuano, and in young guys stepping up from the minors.

[Tbadder]

It's already beeen stated but I think it's true. Benny will be pretty good this year if he avoids injury (I'd say about a 10% chance) and then some poor sod of a team will sign him for 3 to 5 years and completely waste their money. I kinda hope he doesn't have a good year, he left in too much of a snit for my taste.

[monty57]

That's when I hope the Cubs give him a 5-year / $70MM contract :-)

[Thurston Fluff]

Hope he does well don't think he will do $10 million well. His lack of a third pitch means his curve and fastball better be every bit as good as they used to be or he's going to have trouble going very deep in games very often. It would be cool to see that Sheets power curve carve up hitters again but I worry it will be slightly flatter and the fastball will be low 90's instead of mid 90's. At least this season. Maybe in another year he will get it all back. But that would be too late to get him another big payday next season.

This is one of those undervalued, money ball type of move Beane is rightly famous for but I think there are better bets coming off an injury than a two pitch starter. Hope to hell I'm wrong because Sheets really was pretty cool and I will never have anything but respect for him. His signing a long term deal when the Brewers were at their lowest made me hold him the highest regard. He could have put his time in and bolted first chance he got but didn't. That type of loyalty to the city and team should be make him an all time fan favorite.

[jhart05]

We had to over-use Sabathia partially because Sheets went down

Ned Yost was also partially to blame for that. Sabathia was often left in games (with very high pitch counts) that were already well in hand, for things like complete games or just because.

So what. There was no way Sabathia was coming back to the Brewers. Use him/abuse him/run him into the ground, whatever you need to do to get into the playoffs now. I would have done the same thing. Plus if a 6'7" 300+ pound man tells me he's fine and he's staying in the game, then he's staying in the game. Ride that horse.

 

And don't tell me CC wore down in the playoffs. Cam catches that ball like he normally does 95 out of 100 times, and CC wins Game 1 for the Crew.