Sheets: leads A's in innings pitched [Latest: Surgery 8/11/10, included Tommy John surgery]

[Roscoe Chill]

Ben's such a talented pitcher that at 90% of what he once was, he could make another $30-40 million in the game.

 

There are a lot of talented pitchers out there that no longer pitch. He would have to come back and play for the minimum, or to be nice, let's say $1M. And that would be in 2012...at age 34. He would have to make it through the entire year just to even sniff the kind of money he got from Oakland. And even if that all did happen, I don't see anyone going anything other than year to year with him after that. And then he'd have to make it through these years. We're getting up to about age 36 now. I just think that's a huge stretch to say he could make another $30M. Oakland signing him this year was a waste. Only a GM from brewerfan.net would allow him to make the kind of money you say he can still make.

[Invader3K]

I think it was a solid signing by Beane, since he probably would have been traded before July 31st if he could have stayed healthy for just four months of the season.

 

I really don't see him playing again, if I have to make a prediction. He has to be frustrated, and he may have to sit out next season again, just rehabbing his arm. He just turned 32 and isn't getting any younger.

 

Hopefully someday he can return to the Brewers in some capacity, maybe as an announcer or some kind of coach.

[BREWCREW5]

Where are all the people who were wanting DM's head for not signing him long term during the off season?

[RockCoCougars]

Where are all the people who were wanting DM's head for not signing him long term during the off season?

I have called out the Brewers for not even attempting to resign Sheets. Before the injury, it would have been a multi-year deal, instead, Melvin chose to waste money on garbage like Riske and Suppan. This past offseason I advocated a one year deal similar to what Oakland gave him. I think Benny was a notch above Higuera as the best pitcher this organization ever produced, and it's really too bad how things ended. I still think about that game against the Padres in early September of '08 where an injured Sheets gutted out a gem in a absolutely huge game. Had he not attempted to come back to help the team, perhaps this latest injury wouldn't have occured. Then a chunk of the fair weather Brewer fans have the audacity to boo him off the mound in his last game as a Brewer against the Cubs when he was obviously badly injured.

 

As far as I have heard, Ben was always a class act, and I wish him well. One thing that I don't like about this current regime is how they treat their homegrown players (Jenkins, Sheets, Hall, Hardy, etc.)- kicking them to the curb, while acting as apologists for the mediocre to bad 'talent' that they trade for or overpay for on the free agent market. This practice is common everywhere in business, where new management wants to bring 'their own people in', but in this case, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[JJHardy7]

As far as I have heard, Ben was always a class act, and I wish him well. One thing that I don't like about this current regime is how they treat their homegrown players (Jenkins, Sheets, Hall, Hardy, etc.)- kicking them to the curb, while acting as apologists for the mediocre to bad 'talent' that they trade for or overpay for on the free agent market. This practice is common everywhere in business, where new management wants to bring 'their own people in', but in this case, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

I guess I don't get this. Jenkins was at the back end of his career, Hardy and Hall struggled, and everyone else kicked Sheets to the curb in 2009. Honestly, based on a lot of your other posts you don't agree with a lot of what the Brewers do. That is fine. I guess I just don't feel the same way about the treatment. The Brewers offered Sheets arbitration after 2008...I don't think that is kicking someone to the curb.

 

I think the key is keeping the key homegrown players...like Braun and Yovani (and I guess Hart too)....just like the Brewers did. The Brewers also did the same thing with Sheets at a point and time as well. The Brewers can't afford to overpay for players that aren't performing regardless of whether or not they were homegrown.

[Invader3K]

As far as I have heard, Ben was always a class act, and I wish him well. One thing that I don't like about this current regime is how they treat their homegrown players (Jenkins, Sheets, Hall, Hardy, etc.)- kicking them to the curb, while acting as apologists for the mediocre to bad 'talent' that they trade for or overpay for on the free agent market. This practice is common everywhere in business, where new management wants to bring 'their own people in', but in this case, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

This is incredibly hyperbolic and a gross exaggeration of reality.

 

All four of the guys you mentioned probably left the team at the right time. Three of them were extended at various points.

[Diskono]

As far as I have heard, Ben was always a class act, and I wish him well. One thing that I don't like about this current regime is how they treat their homegrown players (Jenkins, Sheets, Hall, Hardy, etc.)- kicking them to the curb, while acting as apologists for the mediocre to bad 'talent' that they trade for or overpay for on the free agent market. This practice is common everywhere in business, where new management wants to bring 'their own people in', but in this case, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

You mean the same Jenkins, Hall and Hardy who had come off of (or were in the middle of) seasons where they were worse than Chris Dickerson, but were owed a ton of money?

[danzig6767]

Ben's such a talented pitcher that at 90% of what he once was, he could make another $30-40 million in the game. And who knows, it could come back stronger.

Are you being serious?

 

He's already 32 and his stuff declined this year as evidenced by his numbers, lower strikeouts and higher walks. Now he'd be looking at missing all of next year at least. So he'd then be trying a comeback at age 34 after suffering through injury issues for 5 straight seasons, including the massive injury he just suffered. Plus, Been has always been a power pitcher, now some crafty guy who succeeded via savvy. It IMO would take beating near astronomical odds for Sheets to ever again be 90 percent of the pitcher he was in his prime, much less do it over multiple seasons.

[RockCoCougars]

As far as I have heard, Ben was always a class act, and I wish him well. One thing that I don't like about this current regime is how they treat their homegrown players (Jenkins, Sheets, Hall, Hardy, etc.)- kicking them to the curb, while acting as apologists for the mediocre to bad 'talent' that they trade for or overpay for on the free agent market. This practice is common everywhere in business, where new management wants to bring 'their own people in', but in this case, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

This is incredibly hyperbolic and a gross exaggeration of reality.

 

All four of the guys you mentioned probably left the team at the right time. Three of them were extended at various points.

With Sheets, team management did something to ice the relationship to the point where he didn't even consider returning to the Brewers. The guy started the all-star game in 2008, and the team doesn't even try to work on an extension. Meanwhile they were paying Soup 8 figures. I remember pithy little quotes here and there about Sheets durability and work ethic as well coming from the team.

 

As for Hardy, it was completely bush league for them to send him down to the minors last season. Melvin defenders can crow all day long that is was about his performance on the field, but simply put, it was dirty pool to delay his free agency. In theory, this was done to boost his trade value, but as we've seen, it most assuredly hurt it.

 

Cutting Hall with 1.5 years left on his contract was stupid. Lets pay him to play somewhere else. The guy can play at least 5 or 6 positions, 3rd and short with above average defense. It just seems stupid to me that the Brewers are carrying a guy like Counsell on the roster to play once or twice a week, while they are paying Hall about 7 million to be the supersub for one of the largest markets in baseball (with 15 homers to boot).

 

Jenkins was the only one where the circumstances of his parting made sense, that said, they could have at least given lip service that they would consider keeping him as he was a valued member of the team, and one of the few legit left handed sticks on the roster at this time. Instead, they made it well known that he was done as a Brewer before the season even ended.

 

As for mediocrity given a longer leash than these guys, where do I start? Suppan, Mench, Kendall, Riske, etc. all performed horribly here yet have or were given chance after chance to succeed. The only garbage that Melvin moved quickly to the curb was Estrada, and how could you not do that?

[logan82]

Cutting Hall with 1.5 years left on his contract was stupid.

 

Hall wasn't cut. He was traded. Hall was clearly fed up with the Brewers and still thought he deserved to be a starter. Hall needed a reality check.

[Diskono]

I'll bite.

 

Sheets - I don't the Brewers publicly criticizing his durability and work ethic. Freaking geeks on the internet, sure, but I definitely don't recall the front office saying that. The impression I got was that the Brewers were interested in bringing him back, but the money offered was way off of what Sheets wanted.

 

Hardy - check his stats again. Everybody here thinks Gomez should be sent to AAA, and Hardy was just as bad. It isn't the Brewers fault he sucked. If he would have raked in AAA, things might have turned out differently.

 

Hall - I think you're wearing out the hindsight goggles here. Hall was terrible, and showed no signs that things would get better. Plain and simple, he was a waste of a roster spot - we would have had to pay him either way, so why keep him around when we could use that valuable roster spot on someone who is actually above replacement level?

 

Jenkins - He has a $9m option, and no club in all of baseball would have picked that up. For all intents and purposes, his contract was up, and he signed with someone else as a free agent.

[GAME05]

Hall always struck me as a great teammate--he always seemed to be first out of the dugout to congratulate a HR. but the way he was moved around, no doubt he got pretty disgruntled and angry at the organization. plus we couldn't really have moved him back to utility status because Melvin had promised him a permanent spot at 3rd, and that would have meant Melvin going back on his word--again. plus even if Hall became a utility guy again, that would have blocked us calling up Escobar, and there was certainly a lot more promise of Escobar being good than Hall finding his stoke again.

 

The Brewers would have been insane to offer Sheets anything near what Oakland gave him. what's the point of lip service if it's clearly never going to happen?

 

no way i get mad at Melvin for sending Hardy down--that was a great move. it theoretically makes him more valuable in a trade, which makes the Brewers better--which Hardy's bat certainly wasn't doing. if we can get mad at the Brewers for doing that to Hardy, then we should conversely be mad at Sabathia for accepting more money to play for the Yankees.

[HiAndTight]

The best I can do is the "Sheets watch" thread after the '08 season. Several posts include links that are no longer active, but you can get a picture of the situation as it played out.

 

The one that I think best sums up things is here, quoting a McCalvy story for the Brewers' website.

The Brewers' official position remains that they have not closed the door on Sheets and his agent, Casey Close. But the team is unwilling to give the 30-year-old right-hander the multi-year deal he is seeking, and might not even offer enough guaranteed money in a one-year deal to pique Sheets' interest.

 

Proof of Melvin's open-door policy came just after the new year, when he reached out to Close. The call was prompted by two Boston Red Sox signings. First they signed Brad Penny to a one-year deal that pays a $5 million base salary with incentives that could add another $3 million. Then they finalized a one-year contract with John Smoltz that guarantees $5.5 million and could pay as much as $10 million with incentives.

 

Melvin wanted to know whether Sheets and Close were open to a similar offer, and it appears they were not. According to Melvin, the men have not spoken since. Close has not responded to multiple inquiries from MLB.com this winter.

 

Sheets' representatives reportedly tried to allay clubs' concerns about his injury history by releasing new medical information last week. If that's the case, they did not send that information to the Brewers.

 

That led Melvin to this conclusion:

 

"It doesn't appear that Ben will be back," Melvin said.

That still seems to be a stretch from;

Except that Sheets didn't want to come back to Milwaukee. I would have

preferred it too, but there was zero chance of it happening.

 

In fact, that article suggests that had the Brewers been willing to offer the money Sheets was looking for, he would have been back.

 

I just think Sheets stance regarding Milwaukee has been exaggerated a bit. He always sounded as though he was open to coming back to Milwaukee provided the money was right. I think the problem with Sheets coming back was more about us being unwilling to commit multiple years to him given his history of injury while here.

[HiAndTight]

Far too much money to make? $400K is a 96% pay cut for Sheets, why even try?

Because he's one year away from becoming eligible for the full MLB pension.

 

It'd be financially advisable to pay a team 450K to put him on the MLB roster next season so he can collect the 130K annual pension baseball players get when he's eligible for it.

[HiAndTight]

With Sheets, team management did something to ice the relationship to

the point where he didn't even consider returning to the Brewers. The

guy started the all-star game in 2008, and the team doesn't even try to

work on an extension. Meanwhile they were paying Soup 8 figures. I

remember pithy little quotes here and there about Sheets durability and

work ethic as well coming from the team.

I can't even imagine being upset that the Brewers wanted to see Sheets make it through an entire season before coming to him with a contract extension, WHICH by the way, he declared he would not even consider(during the 2008 season).

 

So A-We haven't got the first clue if they approached him with a contract extension, but even if they didn't actually approach him with an extension, it's rather absurd to proclaim they didn't even consider it. And B, again, he made a big deal of announcing during that '08 season that he was going to test the FA market.

 

And finally, as far as his work ethic, do you consider that maybe they knew things we didn't? I certainly remember them being very vague in alluding to how the trainer called him to get on him to get his work in. It's certainly not a stretch to question if Sheets injuries aren't a result, or partially a result of him not working hard enough to keep his body in shape.

As for Hardy, it was completely bush league for them to send him

down to the minors last season. Melvin defenders can crow all day long

that is was about his performance on the field, but simply put, it was

dirty pool to delay his free agency. In theory, this was done to boost

his trade value, but as we've seen, it most assuredly hurt it.

 

How about the fact that they rushed Hardy up. Remember he separated his shoulder and was unable to play virtually the entire year prior to making his Brewers debut. He had, IIRC 15 games in AAA, so he will hit Free Agency when he should have hit it anyway.

 

And again, how can you say it "most assuredly hurt it"? No, I think it was Hardy's awful season that hurt it. And by the way, he's proving that wasn't a fluke.

 

Cutting Hall with 1.5 years left on his contract was stupid. Lets pay

him to play somewhere else. The guy can play at least 5 or 6 positions,

3rd and short with above average defense. It just seems stupid to me

that the Brewers are carrying a guy like Counsell on the roster to play

once or twice a week, while they are paying Hall about 7 million to be

the supersub for one of the largest markets in baseball (with 15 homers

to boot).

As it has been noted, they DID-NOT cut Hall, they traded him to Seattle. And it was HALL who asked for a trade and wanted out of Milwaukee. So I'm not sure how that's "kicking him to the curb", it's specifically what he asked for.

 

Not to mention, his production was absolutely AWFUL. The three years after he signed his contract, he put up a line of;

.229 BA

.291 OBP

.391 SLG for a OPS of

.682 That's a OPS+ of 68.

So I'm not sure how much more you think we owed him.

 

As for his year this season, first of all, if you want to use the benefit of hindsight, how can you possibly argue that we should have extended Sheets? The fact of the matter is what he's doing this year is completely irrelevant, as is the size of the market he's currently playing in. I don't see what that has to do with anything.

Jenkins was the only one where the circumstances of his parting made

sense, that said, they could have at least given lip service that they

would consider keeping him as he was a valued member of the team, and

one of the few legit left handed sticks on the roster at this time.

Instead, they made it well known that he was done as a Brewer before the

season even ended.

To what end? Why do you think lying to Geoff Jenkins would have been a good idea AT-ALL? The way the Jenkins situation ended was exactly how it should have. He was on a steep decline and we had no use for him anymore, so he left as a FA and went to Philly.

This isn't summer camp, the Brewers aren't in business to make people feel better. He was no longer helping the team, so I don't know how much of a "valued member of the team" he could have been.

I WOULD however ask you how they made it "well known" he was done as a Brewer before the season was over? I think it was obvious that his time was over before the year ended because it obviously SHOULD have been. But I don't see how they said anything to that effect publicly.

As for mediocrity given a longer leash than these guys, where do I

start? Suppan, Mench, Kendall, Riske, etc. all performed horribly here

yet have or were given chance after chance to succeed. The only garbage

that Melvin moved quickly to the curb was Estrada, and how could you

not do that?

I don't see what these guys have to do with Hall, Sheets, Hardy and Jenkins?

Mench-He spent ONE season in Milwaukee(and 40 games after the trade). Not only was he not brought back after that one season, but he had a much better offensive year in Milwaukee than Jenkins, Hall OR Hardy had.

Riske-Riske has been on the DL for the most part while he's been here, so we're paying him either way, and he has a long history of being a very good, effective big league pitcher. Why wouldn't we keep him around?

Kendall-Spent 2 seasons in Milwaukee, far less time than Hall was given from when his struggles started, and the same for Jenkins.

Suppan-Suppan was cut early this year, and was owed a lot of money the three prior years. When would you have had us cut Suppan?

I don't understand how those guys were treated ANY differently than the homegrown guys you're talking about.

Sheets and Jenkins were both simply NOT re-signed, and for good reason on both accounts.

Hall was traded after putting up two miserable seasons(I referenced his numbers above), and Hardy was traded when we had a top 15 overall prospect in the game ready to take over for him. Why WOULDN'T you move Hardy at that time?

 

 

Oh, and by the way, Geoff Jenkins signed a one day contract with the Brewers so he could retire as a Brewer, a sign that he most assuredly was NOT as upset about the way he left the team as you were.

[Invader3K]

One thing about Sheets. Melvin obviously made the correct decision in not extending him with another long term deal. How would people feel if we still owed Sheets $20-30 million? Let's not even pretend most fans would be OK with that.

[RockCoCougars]

---

How about the fact that they rushed Hardy up. Remember he separated his shoulder and was unable to play virtually the entire year prior to making his Brewers debut. He had, IIRC 15 games in AAA, so he will hit Free Agency when he should have hit it anyway.

And again, how can you say it "most assuredly hurt it"? No, I think it was Hardy's awful season that hurt it. And by the way, he's proving that wasn't a fluke.

 

What was the point in sending Hardy down to the minors if you want to trade him, unless you are thinking about the free agent timing? May as well let him play out the string and hope he goes on a hot streak. The team was going nowhere, and it's apparent that the playing time from last year did not help Escobar, as he's regressed this season.

 

As it has been noted, they DID-NOT cut Hall, they traded him to Seattle. And it was HALL who asked for a trade and wanted out of Milwaukee. So I'm not sure how that's "kicking him to the curb", it's specifically what he asked for.

Not to mention, his production was absolutely AWFUL. The three years after he signed his contract, he put up a line of;

.229 BA

.291 OBP

.391 SLG for a OPS of

.682 That's a OPS+ of 68.

So I'm not sure how much more you think we owed him.

 

Technically, they traded him, but it was for a bag of balls and a dozen rosin bags. ThatOf course he demanded a trade, he was also embarrassed by being optioned down to the minors a la Hardy. They move the guy all over the field, he does it no problem. Then he starts hitting like Laynce Nix for 1.5 seasons, I would bet that all these position changes didn't help. He couldn't have stepped in and played the OF late last year instead of a non-prospect like Bourgeous or Patterson? Your paying him anyway, why not keep him instead of paying Counsell $2-3 million, or Gerut $2 million to rot in Macha's doghouse- which is a whole other topic.

 

As for his year this season, first of all, if you want to use the benefit of hindsight, how can you possibly argue that we should have extended Sheets? The fact of the matter is what he's doing this year is completely irrelevant, as is the size of the market he's currently playing in. I don't see what that has to do with anything.

 

Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but I posted at the time that I thought Hall would bounce back. The point is he would have been a solid utility player on this team, and he was being paid anyway. I know a lot of people don't like him because of the contract and how he was always out in the bars chasing tail, but keeping him around certainly would have made more sense than wasting more games on Suppan.

To what end? Why do you think lying to Geoff Jenkins would have been a good idea AT-ALL? The way the Jenkins situation ended was exactly how it should have. He was on a steep decline and we had no use for him anymore, so he left as a FA and went to Philly.
This isn't summer camp, the Brewers aren't in business to make people feel better. He was no longer helping the team, so I don't know how much of a "valued member of the team" he could have been.
I WOULD however ask you how they made it "well known" he was done as a Brewer before the season was over? I think it was obvious that his time was over before the year ended because it obviously SHOULD have been. But I don't see how they said anything to that effect publicly.

 

I don't disagree that he shouldn't have been picked up for $9 million or have been given a new contract like the Phillies did. As I said, his departure made the most sense due to the emergence of Hart. They made it well known he was gone for quite a while before the season was over, and this culmulated when they pulled him from the game for a final ovation the last game of the season.

As for mediocrity given a longer leash than these guys, where do I

start? Suppan, Mench, Kendall, Riske, etc. all performed horribly here

yet have or were given chance after chance to succeed. The only garbage

that Melvin moved quickly to the curb was Estrada, and how could you

not do that?

I don't see what these guys have to do with Hall, Sheets, Hardy and Jenkins?

They were all brutal and kept around much longer than they should have. Guys like Hardy and Hall are sent to the minors, yet the team kept trotting these guys out there and/or acted as apologists for them.

 

Mench-He spent ONE season in Milwaukee(and 40 games after the trade). Not only was he not brought back after that one season, but he had a much better offensive year in Milwaukee than Jenkins, Hall OR Hardy had.

Should have been DFA'd after the first season. A butcher in the field, and went weeks without driving in more than a few runs. Simply put, he was a horrible player. However, because he was part of the Lee trade, he got every opportunity to succeed. He was out of baseball very quickly after the Brewers finally dumped him.

Riske-Riske has been on the DL for the most part while he's been here, so we're paying him either way, and he has a long history of being a very good, effective big league pitcher. Why wouldn't we keep him around?

 

As I said in another post, Riske sucked for the Brewers even before he was injured. He has been awful again this season, so why are we worried about what the next roster move should be? Cut him.

Kendall-Spent 2 seasons in Milwaukee, far less time than Hall was given from when his struggles started, and the same for Jenkins.

 

Kendall must have had pictures of somebody in a compromising situation. That said, he was an upgrade over Estrada.

Suppan-Suppan was cut early this year, and was owed a lot of money the three prior years. When would you have had us cut Suppan?

I would have cut Suppan mid-2009, about the time of his 'injury' last season. It was pretty apparent that he was no longer an MLB pitcher at that point. If you cut (yes I said cut) Hall, who still has some value, why not take the leap and cut Suppan who is killing the team every 5th day?

 

I don't understand how those guys were treated ANY differently than the homegrown guys you're talking about.
Sheets and Jenkins were both simply NOT re-signed, and for good reason on both accounts.
Hall was traded after putting up two miserable seasons(I referenced his numbers above), and Hardy was traded when we had a top 15 overall prospect in the game ready to take over for him. Why WOULDN'T you move Hardy at that time?

 

None of them were optioned to the minors or DFA'd when they should have been. Another example would be that I think Gomez needs some time at Nashville. Do you think that he's going to go?

[Roscoe Chill]

NDOG44 wrote:

---

Far too much money to make? $400K is a 96% pay cut for Sheets, why even try?

Because he's one year away from becoming eligible for the full MLB pension.

It'd
be financially advisable to pay a team 450K to put him on the MLB
roster next season so he can collect the 130K annual pension baseball
players get when he's eligible for it.

Ok sure. But my point was really in response to how much money he has to make in baseball from here on out...which is not much. He's made his money. He got a gift from Billy Beane, a nice 8 figure gift....which by the way was not a good signing, the results proved that. I don't care if Beane planned on flipping him at the deadline. He didn't. He wasted $10M, and not a lot of people are really surprised at the final result.

He may make a comeback and actually pitch in the majors again (I'd bet against it), but he's done getting paid big dollars...unless he shows he can last, and that's not going to be until he's 35, 36 years old, which is a longshot if you know his history.

How anyone can actually look back and say Melvin should have signed him long term is absolutely baffling to me. Because he had a lot of talent? Because he's supposedly a good guy? Wow.

[RockCoCougars]

I have to correct part of my previous post, I was just checking out another site and noticed that Mench is indeed back in baseball. Are things actually that bad in Washington? Wow.

[Invader3K]

Hindsight is obviously 20/20

 

Yeah, well, you just said it yourself. I think you're being incredibly revisionist in your criticisms here.

 

Hardy and Hall both flat out sucked last season. They deserved what they got, and I was glad that Melvin was willing to use the rules to try and boost Hardy's trade value a bit. Maybe it wasn't the "nice" thing to do by sending them down to the minors and then getting rid of them, but they've each already made millions at this game. I didn't and still don't feel sorry for either one of them. Hardy isn't exactly proving a case for himself this season. Hall isn't missed at all.

 

It just seems like you hate Melvin or hate this team in general and are just looking for any minor reason at all to criticize things. It just comes off as sour grapes, IMHO.

 

And yeah, as for Sheets, I really doubt getting a relatively meager MLB pension is at the forefront of his concerns. Assuming he hasn't been a complete idiot with his money, he and his kids should be set for life, even if he never plays a single game again.

[RockCoCougars]

Hindsight is obviously 20/20

 

It just seems like you hate Melvin or hate this team in general and are just looking for any minor reason at all to criticize things. It just comes off as sour grapes, IMHO.

Hindsight hasn't been kind to Melvin overall, has it? I love the team, but I hate how they handle their employees. Another example, Yost is canned after getting 99% of the way to the playoffs, Macha is still twisting around even though his teams have done absolutely nothing whatsoever. Please explain.

[derflotr]

Because the Yost decision came straight from the top? I thought it was pretty obvious that wasn't Doug's call. He seemed as upset about it as anyone when it happened.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, the Yost decision seems to have not been 100% Doug Melvin's.

 

I have also heard him state in interviews this year that he dislikes the idea of interim managers, since they usually aren't successful. So I understand from that perspective why isn't crazy about firing Macha before the season ends.

 

Anyway, this is getting a bit off course. In regards to Sheets, I think Melvin didn't want to extend him before the '08 season started, because he was wary of him getting hurt yet again (he was injured every year '05-'07, missing significant portions of time). In that regard, Melvin absolutely made the correct decision. If you go back and look at threads during and even after the 2008 season, people on this board were clamoring for Melvin to give Sheets a $60-80 million contract extension, which would have probably been roughly the market rate at the time. How smart would that look right now?

[RockCoCougars]

Yeah, the Yost decision seems to have not been 100% Doug Melvin's.

 

I have also heard him state in interviews this year that he dislikes the idea of interim managers, since they usually aren't successful. So I understand from that perspective why isn't crazy about firing Macha before the season ends.

 

Anyway, this is getting a bit off course. In regards to Sheets, I think Melvin didn't want to extend him before the '08 season started, because he was wary of him getting hurt yet again (he was injured every year '05-'07, missing significant portions of time). In that regard, Melvin absolutely made the correct decision. If you go back and look at threads during and even after the 2008 season, people on this board were clamoring for Melvin to give Sheets a $60-80 million contract extension, which would have probably been roughly the market rate at the time. How smart would that look right now?

Obviously, it wouldn't have looked good, but I still would have rather done an extension for Sheets than give Suppan $40-some million.

[Invader3K]

Well, Suppan was signed two seasons before Sheets left, so I'm not sure how relevant that really is.