Good Sheets article

[ELCABALLO45]

Some people already read this probably but I liked it.

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080219&content_id=2380210&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

[2hoophead]

Funny how a player's stats are noticeably better in a contract year....

 

Book it.

[Tbadder]

I like his attitude and his sense of realism. He understands risks and the position he's put himself and the Brewers. I do agree if he gets 200 innings or more he's gonna have a dynamite year.

[Invader3K]

I agree with Tbadder. It was nice to see Sheets being honest with where he is at in his career (not that he has done anything different before). Some players would be griping about how the team should be trying to sign him again or playing the whole "I'm still a great player" card, but Sheets isn't doing that, which is refreshing.

[TooLiveBrew]

"His hamstring injury was not fully healed until mid-October, said Sheets, who did not make any major changes to his offseason workout regimen."

 

Well, at this point, wouldn't you consider focusing a bit more on overall conditioning? That was a bit discouraging to read.

 

"'I take more positives out of anything than negatives," he said. "I didn't pitch a lot of innings, but it ain't like I pitched five. I had some very successful times last year.'"

 

Damn I love Ben Sheets! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

 

 

 

"'All I've got is now. That's all this whole team has got. I don't think there's anybody in here worried about '09 or '10. Everybody is worried about '08. Nobody is looking to the future anymore.'"

I am so stoked for this season - can't even put into words.

[Samurai Bucky]

Funny how a player's stats are noticeably better in a contract year....

 

Book it.

I have to remember to take that into account when I draft my FBB team... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[KCBrewerfan34]

After being hurt for so many years if Sheets has a healthy season (new arm slot) should his expectations be he receive top dollar or should he look at the last 3-5 seasons as a whole?

 

Thoughts?

[lukevan]

If he has a good year I'm thinking he'll get 4-5 years at 16-18 million per year from one of the top AL teams (Detroit).

 

I love how Ben is honest and realistic about his situation but still exudes confidence in his ability. I think we still could get a slight Brewer discount from Ben this next offseason.

[rluzinski]

Funny how a player's stats are noticeably better in a contract year....

 

Book it.

I have to remember to take that into account when I draft my FBB team... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Considering that it's not even true, I wouldn't do that if I were you. For every example a person can throw out proving the "contract year" myth, I can throw out a counter-example.

If Sheets is going to have a good year, it's because he stayed healthy.

[Ennder]

Hunt had an article about Sheets in the paper today. The idea that a salary cap would keep Sheets a Brewer is absurd btw, in fact a salary cap would make it LESS likely that we keep him as in baseball you can temporarily go over budget to add a player in football you can't go over the cap. NFL has a salary cap and teams keep 1, maybe 2 stars tops longterm and there is more player movement than in MLB. The more popular/larger market franchises still have the advantage because players will sign for less for a team that is winning and can net them more endorsements.

 

Teams like Arizona who are bad and poorly run still have no chance just like teams like the Pirates in baseball. Baseball is far from perfect but this notion that a salary cap would fix everything and let every team keep all their stars is just over the top.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Very possibly, Russ.

 

But if you're represented by Scott Boras, the rules change.

 

Magical things somehow happen to guys in contract "walk" years when that pimple on the buttocks of the game is involved.

 

- Javy Lopez, who suddenly becomes able to now hit 43 HRs, with a .328 BA in 2003. Boras parlays that into a big contract with Baltimore, and he's never even close to that good ever again.

 

- Todd Hundley, outed in the Mitchell Report as buying drugs to cheat in 1996. That was the same season he broke the HR record for catchers, with 41 & 112 RBIs. Boras got him 4 years, $26 million for that & again, he was never that good again.

 

- Adrian Beltre was probably the worst of all. Amazingly, this fellow Boras client, and career .260-ish hitter, usually good for around 20 HRs, 80 RBIs, finds religion in 2004, (his walk year, of course) and becomes able to put up this kind of stat line: .334-48-121. His slugging % rose by over 200 points! Of course, Boras used that to find him a lucrative deal in Seattle.

 

There were many other Boras clients who attain plausibly unreachable career peaks, sustainable for only that one season, through the years. JD Drew, Johnny Damon, Eric Gagne, Andruw Jones, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Millwood, Tim Belcher, Corey Patterson, Travis Lee, Rick Ankiel, Carlos Beltran, Barry Zito, all became short-term miracle workers.

 

Boras continues to coincidentally get superhuman performances out of his clients...and then they drop off, badly. Why no one in power is watchdogging THIS guy, as he continues to get a free pass from any sort of scrutiny, still amazes me.

[Baldkin]

Andruw Jones?

 

You do realize he hit .200 last year in his contract year and had by far the worst season of his career?

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Yes I do realize that. I apparently did do some research after all.

 

My point was that he was able to somehow hit 51 homers in 2005, and never returned to that level again.

 

By the way, now that the Dodger deal is done, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Joe Torre is concerned that Andruw Jones has appeared in camp at a whopping 241 pounds.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3520

 

As I replied to Russ, for my fantasy team, I always try hard to get Boras clients in their walk year, and avoid 'em like working girls with Adam's Apples, the first year of their new contracts.